Dawn, Darkness, and War
by Sonic Phantom
Summary: Three major villains have been defeated. But now, it is their time to shine. One seeks to invade, one seeks for the Chaos Emeralds, and one seeks to awaken a whole greater power altogether. And our heroes are caught in the middle of it all.
1. The Invasion Begins

**DAWN, DARKNESS, AND WAR**

Sonic Characters © SEGA  
Metroid © Nintendo

Note 1: This takes place five months after Lord of Darkness.  
Note 2: If anyone can find the hidden reference in this chapter, then you will get a free spoiler.

Prologue: The Invasion Begins

* * *

Five months ago, our heroes formed themselves together as the seven new Dragon Lords consisting of Sonic, Shadow, Silver, Blaze, Samus, Larcen, and Kera. And together, their combined power was enough to destroy Hellsing the Bat before he could awaken the true powers of the Netherworld. The souls that Hellsing had gathered up for the past 1500 years were finally released, but the hideout of the Ministry started to collapse in ruins. The Shredder tried to stop them, but Sabrina held him back and told our heroes to escape before it was too late. The temple had collapsed, along with Sabrina and the Shredder, but it looks like the Shredder was able to survive the destruction and says that a new world order will soon commence and he would be it's new ruler.

* * *

**- G.U.N. Headquarters -**

The scene opens up to G.U.N. Headquarters, the strongest military force on the planet. On the outside of the base, we could see a squadron of G.U.N. soldiers patrolling the base, keeping watch for any signs of intruders that would try to break in here. The forces of G.U.N. soldiers had increased after Sabrina broke into G.U.N. Headquarters and cut down many G.U.N. soldiers like they were nothing, following by taking the Chaos Emerald that was once stored here five months ago.

We move inside the base to see more G.U.N. soldiers that were either standing at attention, or were just wondering around them heading for the break room to rest and relax for a little while. At the center to where the main entrance was at, we could see a few familiar figures. It was the G.U.N. Commander, Rouge the Bat, and Iriama the Shark. The three stood there, as if they were waiting for something.

"Are you sure you delievered the message to Shadow?" The G.U.N. Commander asked.

"We sure did, sir." Iriama nodded before turning to Rouge. "We did deliver the message, right, mate?"

"I just recalled Shadow. He should be able to receive it now." Rouge answered.

As if it was on note, a bright flash of light appeared right in front of the trio. The light died down, revealing it to be Shadow the Hedgehog.

"Hey there, Shadow!" Iriama greeted with a grin. "We were just talking about you, mate."

"What is it you need me for?" Shadow questioned. "I heard that it was important."

"You made it just in time." The G.U.N. Commander said. "Follow us. We'll show you what we mean."

Deciding to follow his orders, Shadow followed the G.U.N. Commander, as they, along with Rouge and Iriama, made their way towards the target arena that was located at the lower base of G.U.N. Headquarters.

The lower base was where the core of G.U.N.'s military might came from. It was filled with many vehicles, G.U.N. soldiers, and hidden traps that were currently disabled due to the training sessions. It was once invaded by the Black Arms over two years ago, back when they tried to destroy the planet. But they were thankfully driven off by Shadow the Hedgehog and the G.U.N. forces. Shadow would later destroy Black Doom, where at the time, he thought he had killed him. And you know the rest.

We see the G.U.N. Commander, Shadow, Rouge, and Iriama approaching the lower levels. At the lower levels, we could see G.U.N. soldiers all over the area. In one area, one group was busy with target practice, another group were busy talking to each other, and another group were busy testing out vehicles to make sure that they were working. The group of four stopped to survey the surroundings.

"Everyone looks pretty busy as usual." Iriama pointed out.

"Where are we suppose to be focusing at, Commander?" Shadow questioned.

The G.U.N. Commander looked around until something caught his eye. "Over there."

Shadow looked in the direction of where the G.U.N. Commander was pointing at. After seeing his target, the four members of G.U.N. made their way over towards their destination. What they were seeing was a large black and red tank that was mostly modelled with Shadow's design. The tank had six wheels, and there were two extra cannons added to the side of the vehicle. The top of the tank featured stylings of Shadow's quills, and the designs of the tank featured dark red fire, like it was blazing through the wind.

There was currently were two people on inspection of the tank. One of them was a regular G.U.N. soldier and the other was a familiar E-Series robot known as E-123 Omega. As they were doing this, the four G.U.N. members had approched them. The G.U.N. soldier and Omega turned to see them arrive.

"Greetings, Commander." The G.U.N. soldier saluted.

"How goes the tank?" The G.U.N. Commander asked.

"After fixing some minor bugs, the tank is ready to be tested." The G.U.N. soldier replied.

"Well done." The G.U.N. Commander complimented.

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "What kind of tank is this?"

"While you were gone, we were developing a new tank that only you would be able to use and no one else." The G.U.N. Commander explained. "We call it the Chaos Tank."

Shadow didn't look really impressed by this. "I don't need a tank to help me fight. I have my own abilities to work with."

"But that's the thing." Rouge said. "This vehicle is no ordinary tank."

"What are you saying?" Shadow questioned her.

"The Chaos Tank is an advanced which that can allow you to use your Chaos abilities from inside the tank." Rouge explained. "Like we've said before, it's a special tank that only you will be able to use."

Shadow looked suspicious of this tank. So he decided to inspect it by walking around the tank, making sure nothing about it looked odd. The others around him watched silently until the black hedgehog made his round. When Shadow was done, he stopped right back at where he was originally standing.

"The tank's window is open. Just climb in and it will start up automatically." The G.U.N. soldier said.

Deciding to try it out, Shadow hopped inside the tank with one jump. When he was inside, the tank's window automatically shut itself on top of Shadow, as the tank itself was already online. The engine started to roar a little, as the others around it could hear it.

"All right, Shadow. Now give it a little test drive." The G.U.N. Commander told him.

Shadow used his foot on the pedals to move it forward a little. He turned the wheels on the tank and went left. Shadow decided to turn right to get a smooth feel of the tank's running power. He then turned around and went back towards his original position after giving the tank a little runaround and stopped the tank by putting on the brakes. Once he did that, the window opened and he hopped out of the tank.

"So Shadow, what do you think so far? Pretty smooth, ain't it?" Rouge asked with a smirk.

Shadow glanced his eyes at the wheels, inspecting them. "Why are there six pedals if there are only four directions?"

"The wheels on the Chaos Tank can move as fast as you, determining the amount of Chaos energy you put into it." Omega replied. "And it can also be used to shoot out Chaos Lasers from the sides and the main cannon is known to be called as Chaos Missile Launcher."

"Chaos Missile Spear?" Shadow asked.

"It's the most powerful weapon of the Chaos Tank." Rouge explained. "It is able to shoot more than capable of destroying any barriers, whether it is visible or not."

Shadow glanced over at the Chaos Tank. "So it's able to detect any stealth traps."

"Exactly, mate." Iriama said with a grin. "It's pretty nice offensive maneuver in case you need to get through something that you can't see."

"Like that barrier that was located at your former hideout." Shadow obviously pointed out.

"Well, yeah." Iriama rubbed his head nervously. "I guess if you want to put it like that..."

"Hmm..." Shadow eyed the entire Chaos Tank once again. After hearing about it's new features, he didn't really believe this thing was that useless after all. In fact, it seemed very satisfying.

Suddenly, the alarm sounded. Everyone in the lower levels heard this, mainly our heroes.

"What's going on?" Rouge asked. "Is there a break-in?"

"That's impossible." The G.U.N. Commander replied. "There's no way anyone could've gotten through our reinforced ranks." Suddenly, he heard beeping coming from his communicator. He pressed a button on it to respond to the call. "Report."

_"Commander! It's an emergency! There is a large army of unknown invaders that have already penetrated our outer-perimeter!"_

"What?!" The G.U.N. Commander reacted. "Can you identify the invaders?"

_"We're not sure what these things are. They may look like aliens, but-"_

Then suddenly, a loud scream was heard from the communicator. The G.U.N. soldier on the other end started to make moaning noises before falling into silence.

"Come in, soldier! Can you hear me?" The G.U.N. Commander asked. There was no response, much to the disappointment of the G.U.N. Commander.

Iriama looked nervous as usual. "Uh...what just happened there, mate?"

Fearing that this might be trouble, the G.U.N. Commander turned to all of the G.U.N. soldiers that were already standing at attention. "Attention all command units, prepare to strike back against these invaders. Whoever they are, they must be stopped at all costs!" The G.U.N. Commander shouted.

"Yes sir!" The G.U.N. soldiers saluted as they each grabbed a weapon and ran towards the upper levels to meet the unknown enemy into combat.

"Commander, what do you think these invaders are doing here?" Rouge asked. "There's nothing we have that's important. And we don't even have a Chaos Emerald, for that matter."

"I don't know, Rouge." The G.U.N. Commander answered with uncertainty. "But we can't wait around here to figure it out." He then turned to Shadow. "I think now would be a good time to officially to try out the Chaos Tank in action. Use it and head towards the Command Center. If anyone of the invaders gets in your way, you know what to do. Rouge, Omega, and Iriama will accompany you."

"But how, sir?" Iriama asked. "That tank could possibly go very fast, we might not be able to catch up with it."

"That's why I installed several seating's on the Chaos Tank, remember?" The G.U.N. Commander reminded.

"Wait, really?" Iriama wondered. "I forgot about that."

"What are you talking about, Commander?" Shadow questioned.

"I've included three extra seats that are next to the weapons on the Chaos Tank. The Chaos Lasers themselves will respond automatically to those that are not G.U.N. soldiers." The G.U.N. Commander replied. "But unless they want to be controlled, then two others can use them to to control their firing. The Chaos Missile Launcher's firing can be controlled only by you, Shadow. But it cannot turned without the assistance of someone else controlling the weapon's aiming."

"Hmm..." Shadow hummed to himself as he looked at the Chaos Tank.

"Now, I think all of you need to get moving." The G.U.N. Commander told them.

"But what about you, Commander?" Rouge asked.

"I shall take a different different route towards the Command Center." The G.U.N. Commander replied, as he pulled out his pistol and loaded it. "I'll meet you all there when you make it." With that said, he ran in towards the upper levels where the G.U.N. soldiers ran at.

The others watched him go until Shadow hopped back into the tank. "Let's get going." The black hedgehog told him.

"I call for the big one!" Rouge called out first as she flew towards the control of the Chaos Missile Launcher and sat down. The seats of the Chaos Lasers were for Iriama and Omega, as they both sat down next to the weapons.

Once everyone was in position, the window closed on Shadow and he took off towards in the other direction, where there would be another way path towards the Command Center.

* * *

Back towards near the entrance, there were several G.U.N. soldiers retreating towards the inside of the base. Most of them looked panic after rushing inside the base.

"W-What are these things?" G.U.N. Soldier #1 asked.

"I don't know...but these things look almost like the Black Arms." G.U.N. Soldier #2 replied hastily.

"But I've never seen them move like that before! Ever!" G.U.N. Soldier #3 panicked. "They're even stronger than I realized!"

"Don't start worrying now, soldier." G.U.N. Soldier #1 told him. "We can do this! We have to drive off these monsters!"

"But they've already killed most of our outside forces!" G.U.N. Soldier #3 said worriedly. "We're not gonna make it!"

"I said don't panic, soldier!" G.U.N. Soldier #1 shouted at him. "We can handle this!"

Then without warning, something dropped from the ceiling above. The G.U.N. soldiers were already started by this, as they raised their weapons at the new figures that stood on their feet. Actually, these creatures were Space Pirate Troopers. There were a few located back at the Metal Tower in Prison Island, but there were no other signs or trace since they were killed by the Chaotix and Samus Aran.

One of the G.U.N. soldiers already started to panic as he immediately fired his gun. But due to his stated nervousness, the bullets were not even hitting the Space Pirates. One of the Space Pirates charged after the panicked G.U.N. soldier and fired it's Galvanic Accelerator Cannon at the G.U.N. soldier, shooting him in the chest as the soldier fell to it's death.

The other two G.U.N. soldiers quickly moved backwards while trying to fire their guns at the closest Space Pirate. The Space Pirate didn't seemed to be fazed by the bullets, due to it's physical body and bot being affected by regular modern weapons either.

"That thing isn't taking any damage!" G.U.N. Soldier #2 panicked.

Before the other G.U.N. soldier had time to think, the Space Pirate lunged at him with it's sword arm and used it to slice at his chest area. This caused the G.U.N. soldier to scream in pain as it fell to the ground. The G.U.N. soldier moaned once more before falling into silence.

As the Space Pirate looked down at it's fallen prey, the last G.U.N. soldier fired his weapon at the Space Pirates head. For a moment, it looked like it was working. But unfortunately, this only caused the Space Pirate to flinch for a second before glaring over at the G.U.N. soldier with it's glowing green eyes.

The G.U.N. soldier was already starting to panic even more at this moment. Before it could make any movements, the Space Pirate quickly swinged it's left sword-arm horizontally, slicing at the neck of the G.U.N. soldier, and killing him instantly. The lifeless body stood there for a moment as blood started to pour from his neck while falling towards the ground where he landed with a thud.

Once the last G.U.N. soldier had fallen, the Space Pirates turned their heads towards the hallway. Without wasting anytime, the Space Pirates ran through the hallway, heading towards their unknown destination.

* * *

Back the lower levels, our heroes were riding their way towards the Command Center in the Chaos Tank. Shadow was driving, while Rouge, Omega, and Iriama were in control of the weapons. So far, our heroes haven't encountered any signs of the Space Pirates, which they didn't know about.

Suddenly, Shadow could see something from the radar of the Chaos Tank. "There's something up ahead."

Catching word of this, our heroes from the weapons looked ahead to see what was up ahead. There were two Space Pirates charging after our heroes in the tank.

"I don't know what those things are, but I don't think they are happy to see us." Rouge pointed out.

"Sensors indicate that they are known as Space Pirates." Omega stated

"If that's the case, then we better shoot these mates down." Iriama suggested. "Ready, Omega?"

"Roger." Omega stated, as he and Iriama got the Chaos Lasers in position.

Once the Space Pirates got closer, Iriama ad Omega immediately opened fire on them. The Chaos Lasers shot out quick yellow laser beams at the Space Pirates. The Space Pirates staggered forwards, trying to stand straight, but a few more shots later, and they already fell to the ground, dead.

"All right! Two down!" Iriama cheered with a grin.

"Don't get overconfident." Shadow told him. "We still haven't made it to the Command Center yet."

Aware of this, Iriama stayed focused and readied himself for any more Space Pirates that were yet to come. Shadow turned the tank and headed upwards towards the Command Center, seeing as how it was located at the upper levels. More Space Pirates were in the way, but they were either shot down by the Chaos Lasers from Omega and Iriama or they were simply run down by the Chaos Tank. Shadow continued driving to the upper levels without much trouble from the Space Pirates, so far.

"How much farther until we reach the Command Center, Shadow?" Iriama asked.

"We just need to go up one more level and we'll make it." Shadow answered, as he focused his eyes on the road ahead of him.

Suddenly, a whole swarm of twenty Space Pirates jumped from the ceiling, pretty much blocking our heroes from going any further. Shadow stopped the Chaos Tank for a moment to look at the situation.

"Sensors indicate that the Space Pirates are blocking the path to the Command Center." Omega stated.

"What do we do, mates? I don't know if we can shoot all this Space Pirates down with just the Chaos Lasers." Iriama said, looking worried as usual. "I mean, they're all over the place!"

"Then we'll just take them down with one shot." Shadow replied.

"How?" Iriama asked, wondering where Shadow was going with his statement.

"Rouge. Is it possible for that weapon you're controlling to take down all of these Space Pirates down within one shot?" Shadow questioned.

"I'm glad you asked." Rouge replied with a smirk. "In fact, this tank also holds special weapon specially designed to take care of enemies that are in a certain distance."

Shadow seemed to have an idea of what Rouge was talking about. He closed his eyes as a red aura began to surround the Chaos Tank. When the time was right, Rouge fired a glowing red sphere from the Chaos Missile Launcher towards the ground. The energy erupted into a 30-yard radius, instantly killing the Space Pirates. The Chaos Tank was unaffected, seeing as how the vehicle was made from strong Chaos energy. Even Rouge, Omega, and Iriama were unaffected, seeing as how there was a barrier protecting them from the red energy.

Once all of the Space Pirates were dead, the red energy died down and our heroes looked around at the casualties around them.

"What just happened?" Iriama asked, confused. "Whatever that was, it seemed very destructive."

"That was the Chaos Bomb Blast. When fired, it can destroy anything up to a 30-yard radius. It's very risky, because you don't want to use it around others that could be your allies." Rouge answered.

"Then how come we weren't affected?" Iriama wondered.

"You, Omega, and I, were on the tank. And the tank itself is made up of Chaos Energy, and whoever is in and on the tank cannot be affected by the Chaos Bomb Blast." Rouge explained. "So you don't have to worry about getting hurt."

Iriama sighed in relief. "Well, that's one load off my back."

"Omega, how much further till the Command Center?" Shadow asked.

"It is approximately 54 meters away." Omega responded.

After getting his answer, Shadow quickly sped up on the Chaos Tank, as it quickly made it's way towards the Command Center.

* * *

**- G.U.N. Headquarters: Command Center -**

The scene cuts to the Command Center of G.U.N. Headquarters. Where we see most of the humans that were in control of the computers of the Command Center have now been taken hostages thanks to the Space Pirates that had taken them in.

At the top of the control post, we see a new figure standing there, observing the scene. We see the person was a tall-humanoid figure, wearing teal armor. It was wearing a black and green spiky mask, covering the figure's face. The figure was wearing a black cloak along with a green border and an enormous collar encircling the head. It had black armored gloves, and to finish it off, it was wearing pointed, armor, turquoise boots.

As the figure was surveying the scene, a large flash appeared behind it. The figure turned around to see that the flash was from the Chaos Tank that had appeared in the flesh. From the tank, Shadow, Rouge, Omega, and Iriama stepped out of the tank to come face to face with this new figure.

The masked-figure did not react to this, but just simply stared at our heroes. "You must be Shadow the Hedgehog. I was expecting you to show up sooner or later."

"Who are you?" Shadow questioned. "Are you the one commanding these Space Pirates?"

"That is right." The figure replied with a male voice. "I am known as Vi-Zera. Commander of the Space Pirates led by Meta-Ridley."

"Meta-Ridley?" Shadow wondered. "That dragon is still alive?"

"Yes." Vi-Zera answered. "After you defeated the Lord of Darkness, Meta-Ridley and Dr. Eggman had made an alliance together. They spent months trying to create the ultimate army that would rule over the world with Space Pirates and robots."

"If that's the case, then why did you order an invasion of G.U.N. Headquarters? What are you after?" Rouge asked, not looking pleased.

"I am not after anything that you have here." Vi-Zera answered. "In fact, I only ordered this invasion for one reason: To take over G.U.N. Headquarters."

Iriama was surprised to hear this. "Take over G.U.N. Headquarters? What for?"

"This is simply a marking stone in which the beginning of our world conquest will start." Vi-Zera explained. "From there, we can slowly take over all of the other major populaces and make a mark of every new territory that we take over. With each territory we take over, the world will soon become Dr. Eggman and Meta-Ridley's, marking the birth of Organization Fusion: The New World."

Our heroes were surprised to hear this news. Dr. Eggman and Meta-Ridley joining together?

Iriama narrowed his eyes at Vi-Zera. "Sorry to disappoint you, mate, but with us around, you won't be able to accomplish that goal."

"Are you sure?" Vi-Zera asked. "My masters have already made preparations for the next part of our operation. And without your defenses, you won't be able to stop my masters."

"Oh yeah? I'd like to see you dodge this!" Iriama challenged, as he opened his mouth and began to form electricity.

"Iriama, wait!" Rouge shouted, trying to stop him.

"Gigas Spark!" Iriama released a small portion of electricity at Vi-Zera.

Vi-Zera quickly reacted by defending himself by swinging his cloak. The cloak's material was able to absorb Iriama's electricity attack, much to the surprise of the shark.

"What the...? My attack didn't work!" Iriama realized.

"My cloak is made up of special material that allows me to absorb any energy attack that you throw at me." Vi-Zera briefly explained.

Shadow narrowed his eyes at Vi-Zera. "What happened to the G.U.N. Commander? Did you kill him?"

"I did not." Vi-Zera answered. "He is being held hostage along with the other prisoners that we have captured. The G.U.N. soldiers that tried to attack was would be killed instantly. Anyone who didn't try to fight back would be held as hostages. And don't try to save them, we have already secured our spot here. However, I am willing to give you a chance to surrender yourselves and join us. Together, our road to world conquest will be that much easier."

Rouge didn't like the situation that she was in. "Shadow, what do we do? We're completely out-numbered."

Shadow stood there, thinking about the situation. Would he surrender and join the Space Pirates? "Your absurd. You're not going to take over the world by my watch."

"What?" Vi-Zera asked.

"I made promise to a special friend of mine. And as a promise, it is one that I intend to keep forever." Shadow noted, as he raised his arm in the air. "Chaos Control!"

Before Vi-Zera could react, the bright flash of light brightened the room for a moment. The light finally died down as Shadow, Rouge, Omega, Iriama, and the Chaos Tank were nowhere to be seen.

Vi-Zera stood there for a moment after our heroes disappearance. "I would expect that kind of answer from you, Shadow the Hedgehog."

Suddenly, the large monitor of the Command Center was online, and we could see the familiar face of Dr. Eggman on-screen. Decoe and Bocoe were also present.

"Is everything in order, Commander Vi-Zera?" Dr. Eggman questioned.

"It is, Dr. Eggman. And we are ready to move on to the next target." Vi-Zera replied.

"Excellent." Dr. Eggman grinned. "Then you may proceed onward towards the next phase."

With that said, Dr. Eggman disappeared off-screen. Once he was gone, Vi-Zera began his next announcement.

"Space Pirates, set a course for our next target: Future City!" Vi-Zera announced.

* * *

**With this unexected takeover, G.U.N. Headquarters is now a part of the property of the Space Pirates. Will this new band of Organization Fusion keep it's promise? How will Shadow and our heroes fight back against this? And what do the Space Pirates have in store for Future City? Find out on the next Dawn, Darkness, and War!**

**Please, read and review.**


	2. Kidnapped

**DAWN, DARKNESS, AND WAR**

Metroid © Nintendo  
Strike and Aqua © The Brawler

Chapter One: Kidnapped

**- Future City -**

The scene shifts towards Future City. Everything looked as busy as usual. Mainly flying cars, and people walking on the sidewalks near buildings. No one in the city knew about the sudden takeover about G.U.N. Headquarters yet, so they were unaware of what was happening right now.

We move closer towards the ground to see a couple of familiar figures walking on the sidewalk. One was a yellow hedgehog with quills in a similar style to Shadow's with black highlights, white gloves, a blue versions of Sonic's shoes and a pendant depicting a lightning bolt around it's neck. It was also carrying a yellow board with a black rim and a lightning bolt pattern on it. This was Strike the Hedgehog. One of the previous Semi-Finalists of the World Tennis Tournament that was held previously.

And the other figure next to him was a light-blue hedgehog with quills that were tied back, white gloves, blue trainers, white shirt, green jeans and a pendant depicting a teardrop around her neck. The Extreme Gear she was carrying was a white board with a light blue rim with a teardrop printed on the top and bottom. This was Aqua Bubbles, a close friend to Strike and also one of the other previous competitors of the World Tennis Tournament. She didn't get very far in the tournament due to Kyla's previous actions towards her. Later, Kyla had apologized to her after learning the truth about her former mentor, Zed Goodwin's, and his motives behind the tournament.

As the two hedgehogs walked, Strike turned to Aqua. "So Aqua, are you excited?"

Aqua nodded happily. "Yes. It's been a long time since we last seen Kyla, so I thought it would be a good idea to go visit her today."

"I heard that she lives here." Strike said, as he looked around the city. "The only problem is that this place is pretty big. She could live anywhere around here."

Aqua opened up her map to look at all of the cities of Future City. Instead of a regular map made of paper, this map was made up of technology, so the map screen was shown like a hologram to the two hedgehogs. "We can use this map to locate Kyla's home. Do you remember how it works?"

"Yeah." Strike nodded. "It's like a mini-computer that can help locate what we are looking for just by simply typing in the pads that you are holding."

"That's good to know." Aqua smiled. "Can you do it for me?"

"Sure." Strike replied, as he took the keypad from Aqua and pressed some buttons on it. He typed in the coordinates of Kyla's location. Strike and Aqua looked up at the hologram map to see something blinking near the left side of the screen. "There's where Kyla's at. And we're somewhere over towards the right."

"So I guess we should left." Aqua thought. "Right?"

"Right." Strike replied as the hologram map disappeared while he put the map in an unknown pocket of his. "Let's get going, Aqua."

"OK." Aqua nodded.

The two hedgehog's set off towards the left lane of the next pathway, hopefully leading them to Kyla Vonstar.

* * *

**- Hotel -**

The scene shifts towards a hotel. The hotel itself was tall, as of no doubt. It was mostly light green on the outside, and oddly enough, there were no windows that were to be found. You could normally see these things at a regular hotel. But in Future City, almost anything was unpredictable.

Inside one of the hotel rooms, we could see someone gearing up tennis equipment. Actually, this was Kyla Vonstar. She looked slightly different than usual, though. Her long blue hair was cut short, but was still able to touch the human's shoulders. She was wearing a green tee with black colored-shoulders. She was wearing green shorts that matched her eyes, along with black sneakers. Her racket and board were still with her, even after the World Tennis Tournament was over.

Kyla, herself, was doing really good. Her winnings after the tournament ended, she was able to track down her real parents and help them rebuild their lives after telling Louise and our heroes about her tragic past. From the point of her parents poverty problems, to which sent her to foster care for a number of years. She was then taken up by new parents, only they were abusive and aggressive. They pushed Kyla to a point where she hated them and wanted them dead. Well six years later, she got her wish. There was a terrible car accident in Future City. Kyla and her new parents were in it, only her parents were killed and she was still alive, but very injured. Her right arm couldn't be saved because it was unrepairable by the time she got to the emergency room. Sometime after that, she met Zed Goodwin, who took her in and raised her as his own. And you know the rest.

Once Kyla was suited up, she rechecked everything just to be sure she was prepared. As she was doing this, a ringing sound was heard. She looked over to see that her telephone was ringing on a nearby table to where her bed was. Kyla went over towards the phone, picked it up, and put it next to her ear.

"Hello?" Kyla called out.

_"Kyla? This is Harley. There are a couple of people who are looking for you." _A female voice replied. Harley was the secretary from downstairs that was in charge of the hotel's room clearance.

"What do they look like?" Kyla asked.

_"They're both hedgehogs. One of them is a male yellow hedgehog and the other is a female light-blue hedgehog." _Harley answered. _"They're names are Strike and Aqua Bubbles."_

Kyla's eyes lit up and smiled when she heard their names. "I'll be down in a second. I'm almost done up here."

_"All right, then. Bye!"_

Kyla hanged up on the phone and got her equipment in hand. Once she was prepared, she headed out of her room and made her way towards a nearby elevator that would take her all the way to the bottom floor.

* * *

At the main room of the hotel, we could see Strike and Aqua standing near the secretary's desk, where Harley was working at. She told Strike and Aqua that Kyla would be down in a minute to meet them. As they waited, they saw that an elevator was opening. It looks like they didn't have to wait long, because the elevator opened to reveal Kyla Vonstar. The female human walked out of the elevator as she saw the two anthros together.

Aqua smiled happily. "Kyla!"

Kyla looked over to see Aqua racing over towards her. Kyla went down one knee as Aqua leaped forward and gave her a huge hug, in which, Kyla returned it warmly. "Aqua, it's really good to see you again. How have you been?"

Aqua let go of her before answering her question. "I've been doing good. And so has Strike."

Kyla looked over to see Strike approaching her. Being friendly, Kyla extended her metal hand towards him. "Hello, Strike."

Strike slowly raised his arm towards her as they greeted each other in a handshake. "Hello, Kyla. It's nice to see you again."

"You too." Kyla nodded back as she stood back up on her feet. "So what are you guys doing here?"

"We came by to see you." Strike answered, until something came to his mind. "Well, it was actually Aqua's idea."

"It had been a long time since we last saw you. So I brought Strike with me to come and visit you." Aqua explained with a smile.

Strike noticed that Kyla was carrying her tennis racket and Extreme Gear board. "Are you going somewhere with those?"

"Yeah. I was about to head for the Tennis Court to throw in some practice shots. And after that, I was thinking about getting something to eat for lunch." Kyla answered. Then suddenly, an idea came to her. "Say, do you guys want to come along? It would be better if I had company with me."

Strike and Aqua looked at each other. Both of them had the same idea on their minds. They nodded once at each other before turning to Kyla.

"Sure. We'll come along." Strike replied.

"It sounds like fun. Count us in." Aqua added with a nod.

Kyla smiled happily. "Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it."

"Do you know where this Tennis Court is located at?" Strike asked her.

"Yeah. Follow me and I'll take you there." Kyla said, as she lead the way towards the doors, with Strike and Aqua following from behind her.

* * *

They headed stepped out of the doors from the hotel. As they did this, Kyla explained about where the Tennis Court was located at.

"The Tennis Court is right next to the stadium. It's a small arena that is going to be used for practice the next time the Tennis Tournament opens again." Kyla explained. "Also, they are still fixing the damage after what happened to the Space Colosseum."

Aqua seemed to remember that event. "I remember. We all faced Zythris together when Zed turned into that electric sea monster."

When Aqua brought that up, Kyla frowned. She still remembered those events about Zed Goodwin, her former mentor. About how he betrayed her in order to use the Chaos Emeralds for his own instead of using their power to help restore Kyla's arm back to normal. Strike noticed the look on her face.

"Is something wrong, Kyla?" Strike asked.

Kyla shook her head. "No. Everything's fine. I was just a little distracted, that's all." She then smiled. "All right, let's get going."

As they were about to head off towards their destination, a woman's scream was heard. Our heroes quickly turned in the direction of the scream. The woman was panicking at what she was seeing.

"There's something up in the sky! What is that thing?!" The woman asked frighteningly.

Curiously, Kyla, Strike, and Aqua looked up to see what the woman was so worried about. Their eyes widened at that moment.

Up in the sky, we could see a large ship flying above Future City. The designs and structure are similar to the Egg Carrier back when Eggman tried to fight off Perfect Chaos, but that plan did not go very well. The color of the side of the ship were red, there were two sharp blades near the face of the ship. The head of the ship looked like the head of Meta Ridley. It's wings were also similar to the leader of the Space Pirates, as was the tail at the end.

Our three heroes from below were still in awe at this sight. The other citizens that were nearby were also worried.

"W-what is that thing?" Aqua asked nervously.

"It's a ship, but I don't know who or what is controlling it." Strike replied, unsure of this.

Kyla looked up at the ship some more until she saw something that caught her eye. "Look! On top of the ship!"

We move towards the top of the ship to see a familiar cyber-robot dragon. This was, as of no doubt, Meta Ridley. His wings were repaired, thanks to Dr. Eggman and his technology. And in return, he and the scientist formed an alliance together, so that the world would be ruled by Space Pirates and robots.

Meta Ridley looked down at the city, checking it surroundings. It then let out a roar towards the heavens for some reason. The roar of Meta Ridley caused the ship to open up from below. The corridors opened themselves as a large number of Space Pirates dropped down from the ground. The number of Space Pirates seemed to match the number of Black Arms that, at one time, invaded Westopolis. Maybe they even broke that record.

As the Space Pirates continued to drop down in large numbers, the citizens were already in a state of panic as they started to make a run for it. Kyla, Strike, and Aqua looked around at the Space Pirates.

"What are those things? They're everywhere." Aqua said worriedly.

"I don't know what these things are, but I'm willing to bet that Dr. Eggman is behind this." Strike thought.

At first, Kyla believed that to be true, but something didn't feel right. She didn't know Eggman personally, but even she had to admit, this isn't something that Eggman would create.

The Space Pirates looked around at the city for a short moment. Then with a swift movement, the Space Pirates moved in all directions of the city. Two of the Space Pirates went after our three heroes, getting ready to cut them down with their sword-arms at the ready.

Strike and Aqua saw them coming. Thinking quickly, Strike created a surge of electricity from within his hands. He then thrusted them forward, creating a yellow beam of electricity that made contact with one of the Space Pirates, knocking it on it's back with a hard landing.

The other Space Pirate was ready to slash at Aqua, but the light-blue hedgehog wasn't prepared to go down. Aqua quickly jumped to the side as the Space Pirate just missed it's target. Aqua created a few straight waves of water with her hands before throwing them all at the Space Pirate. The force of this attack didn't kill the Space Pirate, but it did make it wet. And it also was very angry. The Space Pirate aimed it's Galvanic Cannon at Aqua, but before it could fire, a surge of electricity caught the Space Pirate in the back. And because water was weak against electricity, the damage only got worse for the Space Pirate. The Space Pirate cried out in horrendous pain for a moment before falling face-first towards the ground, where it laid there, dead.

Strike turned to see that the other Space Pirate was getting back to it's feet. The yellow hedgehog raised it's right arm at the Space Pirate, sending a surge of electricity at the Space Pirate, where it stumbled backwards for a moment before crying out in pain, where it fell on it's back, dead as well.

As those Space Pirates were out of the way, Kyla noticed another one heading towards them. "Strike, use your electricity power on me."

"Why?" Strike wondered.

Kyla showed Strike her metal arm with a small smirk. "So that these things have a little dose of my special surprise."

Strike now understood what she meant by that. Agreeing to this idea, Strike created a wave of electricity and fired it towards Kyla's metal arm. The metal arm was absorbing the electricity from Strike's attack. When it was enough, Strike lowered his arm. Kyla's metal arm was now glowing with yellow energy.

The nearby Space Pirate charged after Aqua with it's sword-arm, ready to strike at her. Aqua saw this coming as she quickly got on her board and rode out of the way, where once again, making the Space Pirate miss it's target. The Space Pirate was determined however to make sure it's target was eliminated.

"Hey!" Kyla's voice called out.

The Space Pirate turned to see Kyla, as she gripped her tennis racket with her metal arm while a tennis ball was held in her other hand. Kyla tossed the ball in the air and whacked it with her racket at full force. The electricity used from Strike's attack was being transferred over to the ball, as the flying object was now charging towards the Space Pirate at full speed. Before the Space Pirate could react, the ball smashed right into it's stomach, causing the creature to flying high in the air, before landing on the ground with a sickening crunch. Like with the other two Space Pirates, this one was also dead.

Strike and Aqua were impressed by Kyla's abilities.

"Nice job, Kyla!" Aqua smiled.

"That was very impressive." Strike complimented with a smirk.

Kyla nodded back with a smile. But then it faded, when she saw more Space Pirates heading their way. "Here comes more of them!"

Strike and Aqua turned to see three more Space Pirates heading towards them. But the two were ready for anything, as Strike and Aqua got into a fighting stance.

As Kyla was about to get in on the action too, a flying car flew towards the ground from behind her. Kyla turned around, curious as to who it was that landed near her. The car door opened as we see someone dressed in a G.U.N. uniform. The G.U.N. soldier approached Kyla, which confused the female human.

"Are you a G.U.N. soldier?" Kyla asked.

"I am." The G.U.N. soldier replied with an unusual voice. "I'm here on an assignment to look for any survivors. It looks like I got here just in time. Come on, let's go."

"Huh?" Kyla raised an eyebrow. "But my friends. I can't leave them behind!"

Then in a very surprising movement, the G.U.N. soldier forcingly grabbed Kyla by the arms, making her drop her tennis racket.

"H-hey! Let me go!" Kyla was already in a state of panic, as she tried to fight back, but the G.U.N. soldier's grip was too strong for her to fight off from. The G.U.N. soldier forced Kyla towards the car as he opened it up and shoved Kyla inside the vehicle.

As Aqua took out a Space Pirate, she turned to see that Kyla looked like she was being kidnapped. "Kyla!"

After taking out the latest Space Pirate, Strike turned to see that Aqua was running towards the car, hoping to save her friend. But it was too late. The flying car took off, leaving our heroes behind.

"KYLA...!" Aqua cried out. The light-blue hedgehog grew sad as she fell to her knees, just about ready to cry. Strike walked over towards his friend to see what had happened.

"What's wrong, Aqua? Where's Kyla?" Strike asked.

"S-Someone...someone took Kyla." Aqua replied between sobs.

"What?!" Strike was shocked to hear this. "Who was it that took her?"

"I don't know, Strike." Aqua shook her head. " It...it looked like a G.U.N. soldier. But I don't understand why would he would take Kyla like that. There are people here in danger too..." The light-blue hedgehog's emotions were already getting to her even more.

Strike lowered his eyes. This didn't make any sense. A G.U.N. soldier kidnaps Kyla, but for what reason? And why did it not try to help the other citizens that were in danger? He looked over to see Kyla's board and racket that were left behind. He picked them up in his hands and looked at them for a moment. "Come on, Aqua."

Aqua looked up at him. "Where are we going?"

"We're going to find help." Strike answered. "I'm sure there's someone here who can help us."

Feeling that was a good idea, Aqua got up to her feet as she and Strike hopped on their boards and rode off towards the heart of Future City.

* * *

The final scene shifts towards a large cliff-side that was at the distance of Future City. The flying car from before flew towards a large area of the cliff-side before making a soft landing on the ground. The G.U.N. soldier from before opened up the car door and went over towards the side-door. He opened it, as he pulled Kyla from out of the car. Kyla pushed him away as she glared at him in anger.

"Are you OK?" The G.U.N. soldier asked with it's strange voice.

"What was the meaning of that?!" Kyla asked angrily. "You left my friends behind and their probably fighting off those monsters by themselves! What kind of person does that?! If you really are a G.U.N. soldier, then you should've stayed behind and helped us out!"

The G.U.N. soldier said nothing. Instead, he approached Kyla. The blue-haired female human walked backwards, trying to get away from him. But then a huge rock stopped her from going any further back, which caused Kyla to grow a frightened of her situation. The G.U.N. soldier stopped a few feet away from Kyla as he smirked.

"It certainly has been a long time." The G.U.N. soldier replied with it's real voice.

Kyla's eyes widened in surprise when she heard him speak. "That voice..."

The G.U.N. soldier put his hands towards his helmet, pulling if off. We could see the Male's face now. He had blond hair that covered his right eye. But what was so familiar about him was his eyes. His right eye was colored gold, and his left eye was colored silver. Kyla's eyes were now in shock as she saw who this mysterious 'G.U.N. soldier' was.

"Hello, Kyla. It really is good to see you again. We certainly have a lot of catching up to do." The figure, now identified as Zed Goodwin replied with a dark smile.

* * *

**Even your worse fears can come back to haunt you. Will Strike and Aqua be able to find help to find Kyla? What will become of Future City? And why has Zed taken Kyla to see her alone? Find out on the next Dawn, Darkness, and War!**

**Please, read and review.**


	3. Sensing Evil

**DAWN, DARKNESS, AND WAR**

Characters © Respective Owners

Chapter Two: Sensing Evil

**- Angel Island -**

The scene shifts towards the floating isle of Angel Island. It was floating above the sky, thanks to a certain jewel that was known as the Master Emerald. The Master Emerald played a huge role in the past. Like the time Chaos broke out in anger and almost destroyed the world, or at one time, the Master Emerald broke into pieces, leaving Knuckles and Rouge to find them. Rouge gave her pieces to Knuckles after a heated confrontation near the Space Colony Ark. It was also used to stop the ARK from crashing towards Earth, but even it's power did not help. But thanks to Sonic and Shadow, the two hedgehogs were able to use Chaos Control to save the planet and stop the Ark's collision towards Earth.

We get a closer view of Angel Island to see a familiar red echidna relaxing next to the Master Emerald. Seeing as how Knuckles was the last member of his race, it was his job to protect the Master Emerald from any evil that would try and take it. So far, everything was normal. Even when he left it to help out on Sonic's recent adventures, it seemed to be going really well.

As Knuckles was relaxing himself, a strange laughing sound could be heard. Knuckles opened his eyes and looked to see what made that laughing sound. His eyes narrowed when he saw someone very familiar standing on the ground.

"It's you." Knuckles narrowed his eyes, not pleased to see this. "Rothion."

He was right. Rothion the Owl stood there with a grin on his face as the wind blew through his breezing cape. "And if it isn't the Knucklehead. I would expect you to be with your foolish friends."

"What happened to you? You weren't around ever since the World Tennis Tournament ended." Knuckles pointed out.

"You should know me." Rothion replied. "I have been plotting a way to resurrect Black Doom so that he may conquer the world once again! And your Master Emerald would do wonders for my master."

"Master?" Knuckles raised an eyebrow. "Who are you talking about?"

"Sorry, but that information is confidential." Rothion said with a wave of his finger. "As you know, a magician never reveals his secrets."

Seeing no way around this, Knuckles got to his feet and cracked his knuckles. "Then I'll just beat the information out of you. Besides, I have to protect the Master Emerald from idiots like you."

Rothion looked offended by Knuckles words. "How dare you! You shall pay for insulting me!" Rothion pulled out his axe and threw it at Knuckles like a tomahawk.

Knuckles narrowed his eyes as he winded back his fist and punched the flying axe back towards Rothion. He then sprint-jumped in the air and glided towards Rothion. By the time Rothion caught his axe, Knuckles had already reached him by doing a drill claw attack to his armored-stomach, sending Rothion flying backwards towards the ground.

Rothion got back to his feet as Knuckles immediately went after him again. Knuckles was rapidly punching Rothion in the stomach, making the owl stagger backwards a few steps. Rothion tried to defend himself, but he underestimated the speed and power of Knuckles' punches. After a series of punches, Knuckles winded back his fist, and did a huge uppercut to Rothion's head, knocking him high in the air. While in the air, Rothion quickly retaliated by swinging his cape around him, causing himself to disappear into thin air.

Knuckles lowered his guard as he looked around for Rothion. "Where did he go?"

For a moment, it looked like Rothion had disappeared for good, which would leave Knuckles satisfied. But that wasn't the case. Unknowningly to Knuckles, Rothion had reappeared behind Knuckles and used his gauntlet to punch the echidna in the back of the head, causing him to land front-first towards the ground.

Knuckles rubbed the back of his head as he turned around. He saw that Rothion was preparing to slice him with his axe. Thinking quickly, Knuckles rolled to the side, just barely avoiding the weapon attack. Rothion noticed that his axe was stuck in the ground, so he used his strength to try and pull it back out.

Knuckles quickly got back to his feet and jumped towards Rothion before delivering a hard punch to his face, knocking Rothion to his back and letting go of his axe at the same time. Knuckles saw that Rothion's axe was still stuck towards the ground. That's when a thought crossed Knuckles' mind.

As Rothion was getting back to his feet, he saw that Knuckles had pulled out the axe by it's out. His eyes turned into horror. Knuckles smirked to Rothion's reaction.

"What's wrong? Can't fight without this?" Knuckles asked. "Do you want it back?"

Rothion gritted his teeth in rage. "Of course I want it back! That weapon was made specifically for me!"

"Fine. Let's see if you can catch it." Knuckles said as he closed his eyes. He then started to spin himself around in a circle. This was still going on as his body started to turn into a red blur.

Rothion was getting a little nervous by this point, wondering what Knuckles was going to do next. His question was soon answered as Knucklds let out a huge roar while throwing the axe in his direction at crazy speeds. Before Rothion could react, the axe slammed into his stomach, sneding him flying backwards. Rothion landed on his back as he rolled on the ground before stopping himself. Rothion groaned in pain after getting attacked like that. His axe was laying there next to him, but I don't think he noticed that right now.

Knuckles looked on at the downed Rothion, whom was still groaning in pain. "Leave Angel Island. And don't come back until you put up a real challenge."

With those words said, Knuckles turned around. But when he did that, his eyes widened in shock. "What the...? The Master Emerald...it's gone!"

And surprisingly enough, he was right. The large Master Emerald that once stood at the altar was now gone. Just like that. What could've happened to it? Knuckles was surely angry at this point.

Rothion laughed insanely as he slowly got back to his feet. "You foolish echidna. Sometimes you have to be aware of your surroundings. Otherwise, you just might lose something very close to you!" With one swing of his cape, Rothion disappeared into thin air once again.

Obviously worried, Knuckles raced towards the top of the altar. He ran up the steps to investigate what had happened to the Master Emerald. He saw that it was already gone, but there was something else that had replaced it. It was a black rose of some sorts as Knuckles picked it up and examined it. He immediately knew what this meant.

"Eve the Cat." Knuckles narrowed his eyes. "She AND Rothion are going to pay for taking my Master Emerald."

* * *

**- Rio Salaz -**

The scene shifts towards Rio Salaz. Things didn't look to different as we scan towards the inside of the Saloon. Inside, we could see Samson and Viola behind the bar having a pleasant coversation with each other while having a drink of orange juice. The two have been obviously closer after defeating Hellsing five months ago. Viola was a former spy for the Ministry, but changed her ways after meeting Samson. The black swallow had confessed his love to the rainbow Lorikeet beforehand, and Viola grew to love him back.

"So Samson, have you ever thought us spending time together alone?" Viola asked.

"You mean like a date?" Samson asked.

"Mm-hm." Viola nodded. "I was thinking we could go to somewhere nice like the Emerald Coast near Station Square."

"That would be nice." Samson thought. "Or maybe we could go to Twinkle Park. I hear that the cutest couples get in for free."

"I know." Vola nodded. "We can do both at the same time!"

"That's a good suggestion, senorita Viola." Samson nodded at her.

As the two conversed about their future date, we move towards a nearby table to see Louise Harmon, Larcen, and Kera talking about something important.

"What is that you wanted to mention, Louise?" Kera asked.

"Well, I didn't want to bring this up when Marisa was around, so I thought it would be best to tell you guys myself." Louise told them.

"What is it?" Larcen wondered. "Is it important?"

"It is." Louise nodded. "Marisa...is going to turn 18 in a week."

The two hedgehogs were surprised to hear this. Marisa was having a birthday soon?

"That's wonderful news!" Kera said with a smile.

"What do you plan on doing for her birthday?" Larcen asked.

"I was going to ask you guys." Louise said. "You've been friends with her for years, now. And I was thinking that maybe you knew what Marisa would want since she's been living here since my departure all those years ago."

Larcen and Kera looked at each other. It looked like they had a face of guilt.

"Actually...we never really celebrated Marisa's birthday." Kera slowly admitted. "In fact, this is the first time I've heard about this."

"To be fair, I did know of her birthday, but we didn't really do anything special together. I would just say happy birthday, and that's it." Larcen replied. "She didn't really mind not getting anything. Whenever I said Happy Birthday, she would smile and say thank you. That was it." The dark blue hedgehog lowered his eyes... "Although, there was one thing she always wished for, but never could get."

"And what was that?" Louise asked.

"Marisa wanted to see you again. She had been missing you for a long time ever since you left her, and almost everyday, she wished that you and her would reunite again as a happy family. Marisa really missed you." Larcen said calmly.

Louise smiled as she grew a little teary eyed. All this time, Marisa's one wish was to see her mother again. And now that she was here, Marisa was really happy. It brought a lot of joy into her and Louise's heart. She slowly wiped the up-coming tears from her eyes and tried to stay calm. "Is...is that what she wanted?"

"That's what she told me. And this was before we came here and met Samson and Kera." Larcen added.

"Was there something you wanted to do for her birthday?" Kera asked.

"Yes." Louise nodded. "I've missed out a lot of my daughter's life, and I want to do something special for her birthday. But to do this, I need your help. Can you do this for me?"

Larcen and Kera looked at each other again. The two hedgehogs smirked at each other before turning towards Louise.

"We'll help out." Kera nodded.

"I've known Marisa all my life, so it's my job to help her out as well." Larcen added.

"Thank you." Louise smiled. "I was thinking about going to a couple places today to check out what they have and see what Marisa would like."

"That sounds like a good idea to me." Kera said. "We can go right now."

"Where's Marisa, though?" Louise asked.

"She's up in her room taking a nap." Larcen answered.

"We'll stay here." Samson said, referring to him and Viola. "Besides, somebody's gotta look after the Saloon."

"Don't worry about Marisa." Viola told them. "We won't tell her about what you guys are up to."

"All right, then." Louise nodded once as she turned to Kera and Larcen. "Are you two ready?"

The two hedgehogs nodded in approval. They got up from their seats as Louise, Larcen, and Kera headed outside, leaving behind the Saloon.

* * *

Up in Marisa's room, we see the young human mage girl resting in her bed. However, there was something different on how she was sleeping. She kept tossing and turning, as though she were having a bad dream. And unfortunately, that was the case.

"No...Mom...please...don't...no..." Marisa said while turning her head repeatedly.

Then in the blink of an eye, she sat up and her eyes were wide open. She looked around the room while breathing heavily. After checking her surroundings, Marisa sighed heavily, trying to calm herself down.

"That dream...I'm having it again." Marisa said slowly and with a sad voice. "I thought it went away nearly a year ago, but it keeps coming back. That dream...it felt real." The red-haired mage lowered her head, as if it was in shame. "I really hope it's a just a dream...otherwise...no, I can't think that. If I do, it might only get worse."

Marisa sighed again. What was this dream she was talking about?

* * *

**- Hall of the Dragons -**

The scene shifts towards the Hall of Dragons, which was located at the Gigan Rocks. This was the place where Sonic and his friends had to go to take the tests to see if they were the potential Dragon Lords that had defeated the Lord of Darkness 1500 years ago.

Inside the main room, we could see the four Dragon Elders sitting on their thrones, as if they were watching over the world.

"Did you feel that?" The green-robed mystic asked the others.

"I did." The red-robed mystic replied. "It felt like something had pierced the heart of a mortal."

"Perhaps this is a sign of things to come." The blue-robed mystic said.

"You are right." The green-robed mystic said. "So far, there's an ambition that is already leading itself to war."

"We should let the Element Guardians know about this." The red-robed mystic decided.

The silver-robed mystic wasted no time as it raised it's arms forward, creating a large ball of energy at the middle of the shrine, as if they were telepathically communicating with them.

* * *

**- Chamber of Elements -**

The scene opens to a new room. It was filled with a magical aura that looked to be coming from the inside of a large building. Inside the main room, there were seven colored spheres, each one representing the elements that were used to defeat the Lord of Darkness. And we could also see the seven Element Guardians joining together, as if they had received the message from the Dragon Elders.

Entei, the Guardian of Fire, looked over at Omnimon. "What's the news, Omnimon?"

"It seems as if the Dragon Elders have felt a strange prescence in their hearts." Omnimon replied. "They see that a new war will turn out to be catastrophic."

"But for what reason?" Aqua asked. "It's not like it wasn't planned out for anything."

"Aqua's right." Tibarn said. "There is no reason to start a war unless there is a motive behind it, obviously. Do the Dragon Elders know what that motive is?"

"They do not, I'm afraid." Omnimon shook his head. "All they can see is that there is a darker prescence behind the works."

"So basically, we have no idea what we're up against." Michelle: AKA Sailor Neptune said, pointing out the obvious.

"Unless we look into this matter, then there's no telling would could happen." Raiden said.

"All right, then." Sailor Neptune said. "I want to hear everyone's opinion before we decide on what we should do."

"Wouldn't it be better to be start out with you, then?" Tibarn asked with a smirk. "Just so we don't forget everyone."

"I know that, Tibarn." Sailor Neptune nodded politely. "For me, I think this is a matter that we shouldn't overlook. If this situation gets out of hand, then like Raiden said, we don't what could happen later on. I should know. I fought with Sonic and his friends once before." After she finished her statement, she turned to the Legendary Pokemon. "Entei?"

"War is always dangerous. Countless lives will be lost unless something is done about it. However, the Sonic Heroes have proven themselves that they can step up to great evil. If they can handle themselves, then I believe we should stay out of it." Entei stated. He then turned towards the Hawk King of Phoenicis. "Tibarn?"

"Well, if this war turns out like anything I've experienced, then we do have ourselves a big problem." Tibarn stated. "The Dragon Elders have also said that they sense a greater evil behind the works. Whatever this 'greater evil' has planned, I'm willing to bet that it's something that might overpower the heroes."

After stating his comment, Sailor Neptune looked over at the God of Thunder. "Raiden? What about you?"

"So far, this war has only started. I say we sit back and let it play out. Just to see what happens." Raiden simply stated.

Tibarn turned towards the Keyblade Weilder. "What about you, beorc?"

"My name is Aqua, just to remind you." Aqua narrowed her eyes a bit at Tibarn.

"My mistake." Tibarn smirked. "Go ahead."

Aqua decided to ignore what just happened and continued onwards. "To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. On one hand, I agree that this is something we should not overlook. But on the other hand, I also agree with Entei and Raiden. Those other heroes from Earth have face greater evil time and again and defeated to save the world, so maybe we shouldn't worry about it too much. Then again, we don't what the outcome of this war will turn out."

When she was done stating her opinion, Sailor Neptune turned towards the Digimon. "Omnimon?"

"...I agree with Tibarn." Omnimon answered. "I believe that whatever this greater evil is planning, it could mean the fate of the entire world. If the heroes aren't careful, then a lot of lives will be lost. I say we try to find a way to contact them and let them know about the situation."

Now it was all left to one other Element Guardian. The Azure Knight: Nightmare. Entei turned it's head towards him. "Nightmare? What is your opinion?"

"My opinion...is that the humans would be foolish to even participate in this 'war'. If they know what's good for them, they should let those heroes do their job." Nightmare stated with his demonic voice. "If they don't get involved, then there is a chance that their lives would be destroyed. Either way...the humans will lose, unless those heroes do something about it."

Everyone then stayed in silence. All of the opinions given out by the Element Guardians would be taken into heavy consideration by the Dragon Elders, seeing as how they have authority over the Element Guardians. Only time would tell until a desicion was made.

* * *

**Evil only comes out when you least expect it. What does Rothion and Eve have planned for the Master Emerald? Why has this dream of Marisa returned? And what will the Dragon Elders decide to do about this situation? Find out on the next Dawn, Darkness, and War!**

**Please, read and review.**


	4. Seeking for Help

**DAWN, DARKNESS, AND WAR**

Metroid © Nintendo  
Strike and Aqua © The Brawler

Chapter Three: Seeking for Help

**- Tails Workshop -**

The scene shifts towards Tails Workshop near the Mystic Ruins. Nothing much has changed, mainly Tails working on his Tornado II. While he was doing this, we scan upwards to also see Sonic the Hedgehog resting on the roof of the workshop. Nothing much has happened with these two, other than Sonic going out for runs and Tails was either working on his Tornado II, or taking it out for a test drive to see if it was working properly.

With Tails, he seemed to be satisfied with himself as he inspected a closer look of his plane. "Everything seems to be working. The damages were already fixed, the weapons have been upgraded, and paint job still looks better than ever."

Well, to be honest, the paint job hasn't really changed at all. The color was still blue, and we could see the logos of Sonic and Tails on the sides of the plane. So the plane was pretty much the same, aside from a few different things that he was working on.

Over with Sonic, we could see the blue hedgehog sitting up as he stretched his arms and yawned out loudly. He then looked down as he saw Tails still working on the Tornado II.

"Tails is as busy as ever." Sonic thought to himself. He shrugged, seeing as how there was nothing that could ever talk him out of it. "Oh well, I may as well go out for another run."

Sonic got to his feet and somersaulted in the air before landing on the ground perfectly. As he was about to make a run for it, he saw someone heading towards the workshop. That someone turned out to be Knuckles the Echidna. Knuckles had a look of seriousness on his face as he was carrying the black rose that was left by Eve after the Master Emerald was stolen.

Being friendly as usual, Sonic decided to say hello. "Hey there, Knuckles. What's up?"

"Not good, that's what." Knuckles replied.

"What do you mean?" Sonic wondered.

"The Master Emerald is stolen. Again." Knuckles added bluntly. Sonic only grinned, which sorta ticked off Knuckles. "What's so funny? If you've got something to say, spit it out!"

"You know, you really have to keep a better eye on that Master Emerald of yours. Who knows how many times that thing's been stolen?" Sonic asked with a chuckle.

To be fair, it was only stolen twice in the past. The first time, it was stolen by Chaos. The second time, it was stolen by Dr. Eggman until Knuckles broke the Master Emerald into pieces before the scientist could get away with it. But that wasn't the point. "Then take a look at this." Knuckles showed him the black rose he was holding. "Does this ring any bells?"

Sonic took a look at the rose up-close. He scratched his head a bit, trying to figure out what this black rose meant. That's when it hit him. "Wait a second...isn't this Eve's rose?"

"I was expecting a shorter response, but no matter." Knuckles said before continuning on. "Yes, this is Eve's rose. And apparently, she's not the only one who took a part of taking my Master Emerald."

"What do you mean?" Sonic asked.

"Someone else distracted me while I wasn't looking." Knuckles replied. "Just take a guess who it was."

"Um..." Sonic scratched his head again in thought. "Who?"

"Rothion." Knuckles answered.

Sonic's eyes widened. "Rothion? Do you know why and him and Eve are working together?"

"I don't know what they're plan is, but it involves the Master Emerald." Knuckles said. "He also mentioned something about a master, but I didn't know who he was talking about."

As Sonic was in thought of this weird situation, Tails came down the stone steps to meet up with Knuckles.

"Hey there, Knuckles. What are you doing here?" Tails asked with a smile.

"It's because of that." Knuckles said, refering to the black rose Sonic was holding.

Tails took the black rose from Sonic's hand and got a closer look at it himself. "Eve's rose? What happened?"

"Knuckles?" Sonic looked at him.

"I'll tell him." Knuckles nodded back.

Tails was confused. "Tell me what?"

Knuckles explained what had happened recently with Rothion challenging him to a fight and Eve taking the Master Emerald while the red echidna was distracted. He also mentioned Rothion's short explanation about how he needed the Master Emerald for his master's plan.

"Well, this is indeed weird." Tails thought. "We don't know who Eve and Rothion are working for and we don't know what else they may need."

"What about the Chaos Emeralds?" Sonic thought. "That could a definite possibility."

"Maybe. But the Master Emerald controls the Chaos Emerald's power. I don't get why they need it." Knuckles said, unsure.

As they were thinking about the situation, a bright flash of light blinded our heroes. The light itself revealed to be a large black tank, along with Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat, E-123 Omega, and Iriama the Shark.

When the light died down, the Sonic Heroes could see the G.U.N. agents in front of them.

"Shadow? Rouge? Omega? Iriama?" Tails was slightly confused.

"Aren't you happy to see us, boys?" Rouge asked with a smile.

"Knowing you, not really." Knuckles replied with his arms crossed.

Rouge ignored that comment. "Well, in any case, we came by to see you."

"For what? To say hello?" Sonic wondered.

"It's a little more complicated, than you think." Rouge turned to the black hedgehog. "Shadow?"

Shadow nodded once before speaking. "There has been an attack at G.U.N. Headquarters."

"To be more detailed, let's just say that we got invaded, mate." Iriama added.

Our three heroes were surprised to hear this. G.U.N. Headquarters was invaded?

"What happened?" Sonic questioned.

"It began when we showed Shadow the Chaos Tank you see right before us." Rouge presented.

Tails walked up to it to get a closer look. "This tank looks beautiful..."

"Not only that, but it also packs quite a punch." Rouge smirked. "This tank is made out of Chaos Energy, and it is also able to break down force fields of any kind."

"Cool..." Tails said in awe at the features of this vehicle.

"As Rouge was saying, she was showing me the tank. And then there was an attack by a group of aliens known as Space Pirates."

"Space Pirates?" Knuckles raised an eyebrow. "What did they look like?"

"The Space Pirates are very well trained aliens species that have advanced armor plating and weapons that are different from modern weapons." Omega answered.

"And that's not even the worse thing." Iriama said. "The worse thing is that those Space Pirates have taken over G.U.N. Headquarters."

Sonic's eyes widened in shock. "They what?"

"The one in charge of the Space Pirates is named Vi-Zera." Shadow replied. "He also had some very interesting things to say."

"Like what?" Knuckles narrowed his eyes, waiting for an answer.

"He said that Meta Ridley and Dr. Eggman have joined up together in an alliance known as Organization Fusion: The New World." Rouge stated. "They want to remake Eggmanland where robots and Space Pirates would rule over all."

As if the Sonic Heroes weren't surprised before, they were now. Knuckles, however, seemed to have something on his mind.

"Then what are you doing here then?" Knuckles questioned.

"We came here for two things, mate." Iriama answered. "One: We need your help taking on this threat. And Two: Since we are technically kicked out of G.U.N. Headquarters, we was thinking about staying here until we take back our base."

"What about the G.U.N. Commander?" Tails wondered. "What happened to him?"

"He, along with the other G.U.N. soldiers, are being held as prisoners by the Space Pirates." Shadow replied.

"And until we come up wtih a way to rescue them, we're going to have to stick around here for a while. That is, if it's all right with you." Iriama said.

"But why can't we just storm the place now?" Sonic asked. "It can't be that difficult, can it?"

"It's not that simple." Rouge told him. "There are a LOT of Space Pirates holding within that place. We can't go back there without a plan."

"And their commander: Vi-Zera, he ain't no pushover either, mate." Iriama added. "Even my electric attacks couldn't do anything against that guy."

Tails rubbed his chin in thought for a moment. If what the G.U.N. Agents said what was true, then this situation just turned more threatening than our heroes could imagine. "All right. You guys can stay with us until we take back G.U.N. Headquarters. But I'll need a layout of the place if we're to going to do this."

At the sound of this, Rouge pulled out what looked like a roll of paper and showed it to Tails. "This is a detailed layout of G.U.N. Headquarters. I was able to 'borrow' this before that invasion took place."

Shadow raised an eyebrow at her. "What were you doing with a map?"

"Me? Well..." Knowing Rouge's expression, she would obviously be after something that's worth of value. "Let's just say I did not want to get lost, is all."

Iriama scratched his head, unsure of what Rouge was talking about. Meanwhile, Rouge handed Tails the map as the two-tailed fox accepted it.

"Thanks, Rouge. This will sure come in handy." Tails replied with a smile.

"How much planning will it take, Tails?" Sonic asked.

"It depends, really. G.U.N. is a big place, so it might take some time. Maybe even more than a day. Or even longer." Tails thought, unsure about his answer.

"It's all right, buddy." Sonic smiled as he laid an arm on his shoulder. "Your the genius, so take as much time as you need."

"Thanks, Sonic." Tails nodded at him. "An don't worry, I'll come up with something soon."

After the discussion ended, Sonic decided to go out for a run, Knuckles and Rouge decided to converse with each other, while Tails asked Shaodw and Iriama for more information about the Chaos Tank and it's abilities in more detail.

* * *

**- Future City -**

The scene cuts back near Future City. Just a few feet outside of the city, we could see most of the citizens have already been evacuated. And the ones keeping watch were the Future City police force that were on patrol, trying to calm the people down.

We cut to one of the soldiers, whom seemed different from the rest. He was a tall white-skinned male human with black spiky hair that was shaped downwards. He was wearing a dark blue military uniform with a light-green badge that represented Future City, white gloves, black shoes, but the most noticeable thing about him was that his eyes were a different color. His left eye was colored red and his right eye was colored black. Right now, he was currently busy surveying the citizens that were busy being evacuated by the Future City police force.

"Lieutenant, Mustang!" One of the officiers shouted. "All of the citizens have been evacuated, but some of them are complaining that we haven't evacuated everyone. What should I do, sir?"

The man in charge, now known as Ash Mustang, turned to the soldier that stood at attention. "Make sure that everyone here is away from the city. Then we can focus our attention on these aliens."

"Yes, sir!" The solier saluted before walking off towards his duty.

Ash sighed to himself as he continued to observe the people that were being evacuated from the city. The whole incident started when the Space Pirates came in from almost out of nowhere and started attacking the city. Ash didn't know what these Space Pirates were after. Did they invade the city so that they could kill everyone in sight? Or did they want to take control of the city themselves? And if that was the case, why?

As Ash was in his thoughts, he heard a sound that look to come from the wind. He turned his head to see two familiar hedgehogs preparing to ride out of the city on their Extreme Gear.

Strike and Aqua were in a hurry, as they were trying to find help to find and save Kyla Vonstar that had been taken by a 'G.U.N. soldier' that turned out to be Zed Goodwin, even though they didn't know it was him.

"You two! Stop!" Ash called out.

Strike and Aqua managed to stop themselves, before turning to see who it was that stopped them. Ash approached our two heroes, as if he were trying to investigate them.

"Are you two all right?" Ash questioned.

"We're fine." Strike replied. "But we don't have much time."

"What do you mean?" Ash raised an eyebrow.

Aqua almost threatened to sob again. "S-Someone took our friend when we were trying to fight off the aliens."

"Wait a second. Did you say that you fought off those aliens?" Ash asked.

"We did." Strike nodded. "And as Aqua said, a friend of our was kidnapped when we were distracted by the aliens."

Ash had an idea of what Strike was talking about. "Just so that I understand the situation better, I want you to start at the beginning and tell me what happened."

Strike turned to his friend. "Do you want to tell it, Aqua?"

The light-blue hedgehog nodded slowly. "Yeah."

Aqua explained to Ash about how she and Strike were wanting to see Kyla Vonstar months after the World Tennis Tournament ended. Then when they were heading towards the tennis court, the Space Pirates attacked. She told them that she, Strike, and Kyla were holding off the Space Pirates. Then when more came into view, a 'G.U.N. soldier' came by and took Kyla while Strike and Aqua were distracted. Aqua tried to save her friend, but it was too late. That's when she and Strike decided find help to see if they could find Kyla.

"A G.U.N. soldier taking up kidnapping?" Ash was confused by that. "There has to be something wrong with that. G.U.N. would never resort to those kind of tactics."

"That's what I saw." Aqua said, as she grew teary eyed again. "Please, we need to find Kyla. I'm worried that something bad might happen to her."

Ash looked down at her for a moment. He could tell that Aqua was really being serious about her friend being in trouble. He smiled a little at her. "Don't worry. We'll locate your friend. I'm sure of it."

Aqua felt happy to hear this. "Thank you, sir."

"Who are you, anyway?" Strike questioned.

Ash turned towards Strike. "My name is Ash Mustang. I am a Lieutenant of the Police Force here in Future City." He answered. "What are your names?"

"My name is Strike." The yellow hedgehog introduced. "And my friend's name is Aqua Bubbles."

Before Aqua could get a chance to say hello, Space Pirates roared from the distance. Strike and Aqua turned to see the Space Pirates had conquered the entire area of Future City. And at the edge of the city, we could see that a group of four Space Pirates were in position, as they set their sites to take down Strike and Aqua.

"More of these things?" Aqua asked, worried. "There are so many of them..."

"You better stay back, Lieutenant." Strike told him. "We'll take care of this."

"Hold on, Strike." Ash held him back for a second, as he stood in front of the yellow hedgehog. "It's my job to help out those in need, so do not tell me what I shouldn't do." He then turned towards the Space Pirates. "Besides, I got an idea."

"You do?" Aqua asked.

"Yes." Ash nodded. "Just watch."

Strike and Aqua watched as Ash Mustang walked a few paces forward until he stopped. He eyed each of the Space Pirates, as they watched the human staring at them.

One of the Space Pirates roared, as the four charged after Ash with their sword-arms. Ash did not do anything to react. Instead, he just stood perfectly still with his arms behind his back. What no one noticed was that Ash's red eye was glowing like a fire. The glow from his eye started to form a bright circle on the ground that was a few feet in front of him. Once the circle was created, a triangle was formed inside the circle, and inside the triangle, we could see there was a symbol of a phoenix. The three symbols were formed as they each glowed bright red.

Once the four Space Pirates all stepped on the seal, Ash made his move.

"Aero Pheonix Flare!"

Ash shouted those words, as he snapped his fingers, creating a cylinder of fire that trapped the Space Pirates inside the vortex. Our heroes could not see the Space Pirates inside, because the fire was too bright for our heroes to see through. This went on for another minute, until the fire and seal had died down. All we could see was the smoke that incinerated the Space Pirates that once stood there.

Strike and Aqua were in awe at what they just seen. Those four Space Pirates were already dead, thanks to one attack.

"How did you do that?" Strike wondered.

"I studied up on Alchemy when I was younger." Ash replied. "That's how I had learned to master it later on."

For some reason, Strike thought that Ash wasn't telling him the truth or not. Then again, the yellow hedgehog wasn't an expert of Alchemy, so he decided to let it go for now.

Aqua looked up to see something flying in the sky. Her eyes widened when she saw it. It was the flying car from before, where Zed took Kyla. "That's the car! Up there! That's what the G.U.N. soldier used to take Kyla!"

Ash looked up to see the flying car quickly flying across the buildings that were now occupied by the army of Space Pirates. "Whoever is driving it, must be in a hurry."

"We have to go after it!" Aqua exclaimed. "Strike?"

"Right." Strike nodded. "We can use our boards to go after it."

"But what about Ash? He doesn't have a board." Aqua pointed out.

"You don't need to worry about that problem. I've already got it settled." Ash said as he pressed, what looked liked to be a small button on his badge.

Nothing happened for a second. That was, until a hover vehicle flew towards the group until it was hovering a few feet above the ground near Ash. It was a hover-bike designed with a blue coat of pain. There were red flame logos on each side and a design that looked like the symbol of Future City.

"My hover-bike will allow me to be able to keep track from anything up to a 20-yard radius." Ash explained. "I think we'll be able to track down whoever kidnapped your friend."

Strike and Aqua looked at each other for a moment before smirking and nodding their heads.

"All right. Let's go!" Strike nodded.

Before leaving, Ash told the next commanding officer that he would be in charge until he got back. Once that was settled, Strike, Aqua, and Ash Mustang got on their boards and hover-bike and set a course towards the flying car's direction, hoping to save Kyla.

* * *

**- Meteor Tech -**

The final scene shifts towards Meteor Tech. This was where the incident with the robots and the Ark of the Cosmos began. And this was where Sonic and Jet had crossed paths for the second time. But it was different this time. In just a short amount of time, Meteor Tech was filled with Space Pirate scientists developing highly advance robots that would play an important role for the conquest of Organization Fusion: The New World, led by Dr. Eggman and Meta Ridley.

Inside the main room, we could see one different standing with it's arms crossed and a smile on it's face. This was a rather large and muscular armored humanoid. He was wearing a bronze helmet with a sharp surve that was in-between his orange eyes and brown skin. Like Vi-Zera, he was also wearing armor. However, the armor color was black along with orange layers and a red core that shown on it's stomach. He was wearing large bronze boots, and bronze armored gloves. And there was also a large happer that hanged on his back.

The armored-figure chuckled with the progess that was going on. "This is becoming too easy."

Just then, a blinking light was shown at the top left of the monitor, making the figure focus his attention towards that. He pressed a button on the control panel, revealing it to be Vi-Zera, who appeared on screen.

"I am here for your report, Dozrin." Vi-Zera stated. "Deliver."

The armored figure, now known as Dozrin, responded. "We have just taken over Future City and the Space Pirates have began working on the robots as we speak."

"Very good, Dozrin." Vi-Zera commented.

"What about that announcement you were going to make?" Dozrin asked.

"It will be ready, shortly." Vi-Zera responded. "I must make a few inquiries before the next phase of our plan can begin. Contact me again when the robots are ready. Then I will deliver the message to Dr. Eggman and Meta Ridley."

"As you will, Vi-Zera." Dozrin bowed.

Vi-Zera disappeared off-screen as Dozrin turned around and smirked again.

"Once the announcement has been made clear, the world shall be put on notice. Soon, Organization Fusion will be born. And the world shall belong to Dr. Eggman and Meta Ridley." Dozrin stated with another chuckle.

* * *

**A new force is beginning to rise. How will our heroes combat against this army of growing Space Pirates? Will Strike, Aqua, and Ash be able to save Kyla from Zed Goodwin? And what is this announcement that Vi-Zera has planned out? Find out on the next Dawn, Darkness, and War!**

**Please, read and review.**


	5. Whirling with Magic

**DAWN, DARKNESS, AND WAR**

Shredder © Mirage

Chapter Four: Whirling with Magic

**- Soleanna -**

The scene shifts towards Soleanna. So far, the invasions of G.U.N. Headquarters and Future City were a success for the Space Pirates, Soleanna was one of the cities that was unaffected. Probably because Soleanna hasn't received the news yet, and are unaware of the events that had taken place sometime ago. However, despite this, everything seemed to be normal here.

We zoom in closer towards the city until a familiar blue blur stops near a bell tower. Sonic puts a gloved hand over his head to get a closer look at the people with his eyes.

"Seems like everyone is pretty cool here." Sonic said with a smile.

As Sonic looks around at the people, he notices a small stand nearby. It looked like it was filled with all kinds of different jewelry. He then sees who the owners were, as he raised an eyebrow at three familiar figures, which turned out to be Yublein the Tyrannosaurus Rex, Alyson Sweet, and Spade the Pterodactyl. But what were they doing outside of their normal work at the Pawn Shop? Deciding to check this out, Sonic dashed over towards the jewelry stand to get a closer look for himself.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Sonic greeted.

Alyson was the first to notice Sonic. She gasped. "Oh, it's you!" She turned to Yublein. "Darling, look who it is!"

The red dinosaur got a look at Sonic with his monocle. "Why, if it isn't Mr. Sonic the Hedgehog. How are you doing on this fine day?"

"Fast as usual." Sonic replied with a smirk. "But what are you guys doing out here? Shouldn't you be working at the Pawn Shop?"

"Well, you see, ever since that incident back at that party some months ago, we haven't really been receiving many customers. So we decided to sell our stuff from the outside for a while before we're ready to go back to the Pawn Shop and sell from there again." Spade explained.

"And how has it been going so far?" Sonic asked.

"It's great!" Alyson replied happily. "We get to enjoy the fresh air and the sun shining over our faces." The girl said with a happy sigh. "Ah, it's so breathtaking. Wouldn't you agree, darling?"

"Indeed, I do, Alyson." Yublein nodded. "Plus, we can always go out for lunch faster instead of just walking from the Pawn Shop and back."

Alyson giggled to herself. "So Sonic, have you come by to check out some of our beautiful jewelry?"

"Not really." Sonic shook his head. "Jewelry isn't exactly my thing."

"But Sonic..." Alyson pouted a bit. "What about your girlfriend, Amy?"

Sonic's eyes widen in shock. "Girlfriend? Amy and I are only friends! We're not in a relationship!"

"But you could at least make her happy by giving her something to surprise her." Alyson told him.

"Like what?" Sonic asked.

Alyson looked over at all of the jewelry that was displaying in the glass below. One in particular catches her eye as she reached in and grabbed out a shiny turquoise bracelet. Once she gets the bracelet, she went over towards Sonic.

Sonic raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "What are you doing?"

"I want to see how this bracelet fits you." Alyson replied. "Come on, lift your arm up."

Deciding to get this over with, Sonic lifted his right arm as Alyson fit the bracelet around his arm. Alyson kept the arm straightened out as she inspected it.

"Oh my...this looks very beautiful. I can tell that Amy would love it." Alyson smiled.

"Uh...thanks, I guess." Sonic scratched his head with his left hand.

"Sonic...?" A female voice asked.

Sonic turned to see who it was that called out his name. It turned out to be Louise, Kera, and Larcen. The two hedgehogs and sage looked at Sonic strangely.

Sonic felt embarrassed by this. "Uh...hey guys. This isn't what you think it is!"

Kera smirked. "Who knew the great Sonic the Hedgehog would be into fashion?"

Louise was tempted to laugh, but she was able to hold in long enough to calm herself down. "What's up with the bracelet? Are you going to give it to Amy as a gift?"

"Well, I haven't really decided that yet. This lady keeps saying that I should give it to Amy as a surprise for her." Sonic explained.

"I have a name, you know." Alyson said, a little furious that Sonic didn't call her by her real name.

Larcen raised an eyebrow at the familiar pink-haired woman. "Alyson Sweet?"

Alyson looked over to see Louise and Kera standing there. She smiled immediately. "Oh my! More familiar guests!"

"Pleasure to see you again, guys." Spade greeted with a smile.

"Same here." Kera nodded back.

"If you don't mind me asking...what brings you around Soleanna today?" Yublein asked.

"Well, it's sort of a private matter that we'd like to keep to ourselves." Larcen admitted.

"Although..." Louise thought. "Since there is only a small group, I guess we could tell you. But only if you are willing to keep it a secret."

"Oh yes!" Alyson nodded. "We'd love to hear it!"

"And don't you worry." Yublein added. "Whatever secrets people tell us, we always keep our mouths closed."

"All right, then." Louise took a deep breath before continuing. "My daughter, Marisa Harmon, is going to turn 18 next week."

Alyson squealed in delight of this news. "Oh my, your daughter is having a birthday! How wonderful!"

"I say, that sounds marvelous!" Yublein added with a happy smile.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Alyson asked. "I always want to help out those in need who have birthday problems!"

"Well, it's not really much of a problem for us." Kera explained. "Marisa's going to be the birthday girl."

However, Louise had a different thought. "Now that you mention it, I am looking for a special gift for Marisa's birthday."

"Stop right there!" Alyson told her. "I know just what you're looking for." She turned to the Pterodactyl. "Spade?"

"Coming right up." Spade acknowledged as he looked through the glass set of jewelry and pulled out one particular. One he did that, Alyson went over to pick it up and show it to Louise.

"Here you go, Miss Louise." Alyson lifted her hands and showed her what she was carrying. It looked like a crystal necklace filled with a rainbow aura. There was also a red heart in the middle that signified love.

"Oh wow..." Louise said in shock. She carefully lifted the string of the necklace and examined it for herself. "This really is beautiful." But then she realized something. "But I can't afford this. It's probably too expensive, anyway."

"Not true, my dear." Yublein corrected her. "This necklace has been in the Pawn Shop for many years, only to open for any special occasion. And we believe this is the time to let someone like you to give to your daughter for her birthday."

"The reason he says this is because that necklace is priceless." Spade added.

"You mean, I can have this...for free?" Louise asked. "But isn't just an ordinary necklace?"

"That's the thing." Alyson said. "You see, that necklace holds a special bond between two people that can never be broken. The aura around the necklace will know let you know that they are always with you no matter how far apart you are."

Louise looked at the necklace a little longer before showing it to Larcen and Kera. "What do you think, guys? Should I give it to Marisa?"

Kera nodded her head in reply. "I believe you should. It would be a wonderful surprise."

"I agree with Kera." Larcen added. "A gift like this would make Marisa really happy."

After hearing their short thoughts, Louise immediately came up with a decision, as she turned to Alyson. "OK then. I'll take it."

"Very good!" Alyson smiled happily. She reached over towards a small box and grabbed the necklace from Louise and placed it inside, carefully securing it. "Here you go, Miss Louise. I hope your daughter will love it."

"Thank you very much." Louise replied gently as she grabbed the box from Alyson and carefully placed it inside the side pocket of her violet shirt. "Your generosity means a lot to me."

"Oh, it's nothing." Alyson giggled playfully. "We just like to help out when we can."

Soon, Sonic, Louise, Larcen, and Kera said good-bye to the three jewelry owners before departing them. Afterwards, Sonic asked about this birthday that Marisa was soon having.

"So are you planning on having a huge party for the birthday girl?" Sonic asked with a smile.

"We haven't really planned that far, yet." Kera answered. "We were actually going to look for a few gifts for Marisa."

"And as for a party, I originally planned it to be a small party. But then again, since we have a lot of close friends, why not invite our closest friends to come celebrate with us?" Louise thought.

"Well, why not send out the invitations?" Sonic asked. "I could help you with that."

"You would?" Louise wondered.

"I'm not called the 'fastest thing alive' for nothing." Sonic said with a wink.

Louise blushed a little at the comment. "You have a point."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Larcen asked him.

"Why not? You guys are my friends and I want to help give Marisa the greatest birthday she has ever received." Sonic answered with a smirk.

"That would be a big help for us." Kera said. "Right, Larcen?"

"Well...I guess." Larcen replied slowly.

"What's wrong?" Sonic asked. "You don't want my help?"

"No, it's not that." Larcen shook his head. "It's just that, well, in the time I've spent with Marisa, we never actually celebrated her birthday at all. And it just feels weird to be actually having an actual party for her."

"Well, you don't have to worry." Sonic reassured him. "Like I said, Marisa is going to get a huge party where all of our friends will be invited. And I'm going to help out, all right?"

Larcen smiled a little. "Thanks. I think it would make Marisa very happy."

"OK then. I'll go get the decorations." Sonic decided. "You guys focus on getting presents for Marisa." And with that, he dashed off in a blur.

After Sonic was gone, the three were left in silence.

"Well, I guess that's one load off our backs." Kera thought.

"We should probably get to work on finding some gifts for Marisa." Louise said. "It will be easier for us while Sonic does the hard work."

"Where do you think we should go, though?" Larcen asked.

"We could probably still look around Soleanna. And then maybe we could travel to Station Square look there." Louise thought.

"That sounds like an idea, to me." Kera agreed.

As soon as they agreed on what they should do, the three traveled around the city in search of potential gifts for Marisa.

* * *

- **Unknown Location -**

The scene shifts towards a dark isolated forest. The sky itself was made out of pure darkness, as well as a misty fog that surrounded the place. The trees that stood in it's place were filled with pointy branches and no leaves in sight. It almost looked like the forest itself was lifeless.

But that wasn't true. We could see one tall figure making it's way through the forest. It turned out to be the Shredder, whom had survived the crash down of the Ministry's hideout from before. Adding that he survived the fight between him and Sabrina the Chameleon, who was unfortunately caught and did not survive the crash of the former base. After that time passed, Shredder had been traveling non-stop in search for something.

As we see him walking, he suddenly stopped in the middle of a small field of the forest. He only looked straight ahead, deciding not to look around at his surroundings.

"This forest seems to hold some unnatural inhabitants around here." Shredder said to himself. "If what this forest says his true, then these creatures must be nearby."

For a moment, nothing happened. But knowing the Shredder, he did not want to make any mistakes in his mission, whatever it could be. He took a few paces forwards until he heard a noise, which made him stop in his tracks.

"Show yourself, you fool. Or I will force you to come out of hiding." Shredder warned the mysterious noise.

From a different view, we could see someone watching Shredder from behind one of the lifeless trees. It was a green-furred female raccoon. She had blue eyes and red lipstick on her mouth, along with small golden earrings. She wore a blue tank top with two claw marks on resembled on each side. She had black wristbands along with white gloves, black pants, dark-green boots, a green witch's hat that pointed downwards, and we could see her yellow hair wrapped in a ponytail. She grabbed out a black stick that looked like a wand and aimed it towards Shredder.

"Take this, sugar." The raccoon chuckled, as a force of green energy blasted itself from the wand.

Shredder turned to see the green energy blast coming towards him. He quickly jumped out of the way to avoid the blast, as the energy exploded on the ground, missing it's target. Shredder looked in the direction in where the blast came from.

"Come out, you foolish creature and face me. Otherwise, that will be the only mistake you will ever make." Shredder said threateningly.

The raccoon jumped down from it's spot and floated towards Shredder in thin air, revealing her face to him. "I guess you don't take too kindly to friendly greetings."

Seeing her for the first time, Shredder narrowed his glowing red eyes at the floating raccoon. "What manner of persistence do you speak of, creature?"

"I have a name, you know." The raccoon pointed out. "It is Mendilina."

"Mendilina..." Shredder repeated once. "Do you expect me to take you seriously?"

"You probably should." Mendilina answered with a sexy smile. "It's not everyday you see someone who can perform witchcraft in front of your eyes."

"So you must be a sorceress..." Shredder realized. "How interesting."

"That's funny." Mendilina chuckled lowly. "People use to refer to me as a witch. But that was long ago. I see that this is the first time someone has called by that trait. I give you compliments, sugar. I'm very flattered."

"As much as I appreciate your compliments, you're the one who shouldn't be flattered." Shredder told her. "After I get rid of you, you won't have anything to be flattered about." He then got into a fighting stance and prepared to make his move.

"So you want to harm a woman, do you?" Mendilina chuckled at the sight of this. "Very well, but I assure you that this won't last long."

"You have no idea who you are dealing with, do you?" Shredder chuckled evilly. "I am the Shredder, and you shall now meet your doom!"

Without warning, Shredder jumped at her with his claws. Mendilina quickly glided to the side to avoid the assault. Mendilina returned the favor as she waved her wand in the air, producing electricity within the pointer of her wand. She casted it towards Shredder, preparing to strike the metallic warrior on sight. Shredder defended himself by shielding his chest with his arms. The lightning struck his arms, causing Shredder to be pushed back a few feet before the lightning disappeared. Mendilina then shot another ray of green energy from her wand, but once again, Shredder was able to jump out of the way again.

Mendilina narrowed her eyes as she pointed her wand at Shredder and fired another ray of green energy at him. Shredder took the attack this time, as he, surprisingly, flew backwards and crashed on the ground and landed on his back. Before he could get up, Mendilina took advantage as she raised her wand in the air and prepared her next move.

"Star Whirlwind!" Mendilina called out.

Suddenly, a shape of a star started to form itself from below the Shredder. The green glowing energy from the star started to form a tornado, consuming the Shredder as he started to fly around in the gusty cyclone. Mendilina only smirked at her work before swinging the wand in the air, sending Shredder flying out of the tornado and high into the air. From below, Mendilina was loving her work even more.

"This should take care of him. I hope he has a nice landing, if you know what I mean." Mendilina said with a chuckle, as she looked on to see the fall of the Shredder.

She did get her wish. She was going to see Shredder fall towards the ground. However, what she didn't realize that Shredder had already planned out a counter attack. And before she could realize this, Shredder was flying towards her at high speed, where he slammed her in the stomach, sending her crashing towards the ground with a hard impact, making her drop her wand as well.

Mendilina groaned as she looked around for her wand. She noticed that it was some feet away from her, so she tried to crawl over towards it. But unfortunately for her, a tall shadow stood over her. Mendilina looked up to see the Shredder standing tall and looking unharmed.

"You thought you had me, didn't you?" Shredder questioned rhetorically.

"I...I was expecting a harder fall than that, sugar." Mendilina replied a little weakly.

"Now that you have fallen, it's time that I put an end to your misery." Shredder said, as he raised his claws in the air and prepared to strike her down for good.

"Cease this at once." A new voice ordered.

Shredder and Mendilina looked in the direction in where the voice came from. We see a new figure entering the scene. It was a male white stallion with tattoo hieroglyphic marks on his face. He had forest green eyes. His attire consisted of a purple trench coat, his arms were consisted of golden arm bands, he wore dark blue pants, and wore black shiny boots.

Mendilina immediately recognized this figure. "Oh, thank goodness your here! This trespasser came into this forest without warning. I tried to hold him off, but he got the best of me! Now that your here, we can both finish him off together."

The stallion eyed Mendilina from his view. From the look on his face, he looked serious. "What were you thinking, Mendilina? You went off on your own without notifying me, and because of this, he almost ended your life."

"What?" Mendilina asked, somewhat confused to hear this.

The stallion turned his attention towards the Shredder. "You will have to excuse Mendilina. She can be a bit out of control sometimes."

Shredder narrowed his red eyes at this strange character. "And who are you suppose to be, creature?"

"I am known as Vision." The stallion replied. "And I'm sure you've already met Mendilina."

The green raccoon got to her feet as she went over and picked up her wand. "I'm sorry, sugar. I promise not to do anything like that again." Mendilina said, as she winked at Vision with a smile.

Vision looked back up at the mettalic warrior. "And may I ask your name?"

"I am known as the Shredder. And I have come to this forest in search of the creatures known as the Shadow of Eyes." Shredder said.

Vision seemed to take a slight interest in this. "So you have known about the myth of this forest?"

"I have been searching for this place for months, and I have heard rumors of a group of shadowy figures known as the Shadow of Eyes who always hide away from the daylight, not to be seen by anyone in the flesh." Shredder answered briefly. "Am I correct?"

"Indeed you are." Vision replied. "We have been in hiding for a very long time. We wait until our master returns to the forest to guide us towards it's goals. And after years of waiting, someone has finally come to us."

"Wait a minute." Mendilina stopped him. "Are you saying that this Shredder should be our new leader?"

"It is destiny, Mendilina." Vision told her. "The Shredder looks to be like a new leader that will guide us towards his goals, no matter how impossible they may seem." He then walked towards the Shredder until he was staring face to face with him. "As the guardian of this forest, I must ask you, Shredder: Will you lead us as the leader of the Dark Children?"

Shredder stared at the eyes of Vision for a long moment. The thought of being a leader to this mysterious group would probably help him in his goal. Since they had no idea about his nature, it would also work out in his favor. "Show me to me who I'm leading."

As Shredder accepts his new position, there was someone in the shadows watching the scene as Vision, Mendilina and Shredder walked deeper towards the forest. When they were out of sight, the figure turned around and quickly disappeared into the fog.

* * *

**Sometimes it helps to bring in your friends close and your enemies closer. Who is this strange group consisted as the Shadow of Eyes? What will the Shredder gain from his new position as leader? And will this affect on what has been happening recently? Find out on the next Dawn, Darkness, and War!**

**Please, read and review.**


	6. Deception of Energy

**DAWN, DARKNESS, AND WAR**

Chapter Five: Deception of Energy

**- Rio Salaz -**

The scene cuts to Rio Salaz. Inside the Saloon, we could see Samson and Viola sharing some drinks together. Ever since the two love birds **(no pun intended)** got together, they have been doing a lot the past months. They went out on walks near the town together, even if they weren't alone. They even went on a small date some months back, and they both seemed to enjoy it.

"What should we do, now that everyone else is gone for the time being?" Samson asked his girlfriend.

"Marisa is still here, you know." Viola reminded him with a small smile.

"Yeah, but she's still resting." Samson added. "Although, come to think of it, she hasn't been herself, lately. She's been taking a lot of naps and has barely eaten anything."

"I know what you mean." Viola said a little bit of depression. "Late one night, I went to go get a mug of water, and then I saw Marisa down there drinking a glass of milk. I was curious, because her eyes looked red and it didn't look like she was getting enough sleep. I asked her about this and she told me that she was having nightmares almost every other night."

"Nightmares?" Samson raised an eyebrow. "What about?"

"She wouldn't tell me. She said that it was too frightening for her talk about. Even though she didn't want to talk about it, I would give her a hug and hope that she got better." Viola sighed. "I really feel sorry for that girl."

"I do, too, senorita Viola." Samson agreed. "She might be feeling sick."

Viola seemed to think that was the case. However, she couldn't help but feel that it something else was bothering Marisa. She then heard soft footsteps coming down the stairs. Viola turned her head to see Marisa Harmon slowly making her way towards the bar table with a small yawn. The red-head was wearing a blue mini-skirt, brown boots, and a blue shirt. It seemed as though she had woken up just now as she joined with Viola and Samson by sitting down on one of the stools.

"Hey, guys." Marisa greeted with a calm smile.

"Hello, Marisa." Viola greeted back. "How are you feeling?"

"A little better." She replied slowly." However, I feel like getting something warm in my stomach."

"How about some soup? I'm sure that will make you feel all better." Viola suggested.

Marisa nodded with a little wider smile. "That would be wonderful."

"I'll have it right up before you know it!" Samson told her with a grin before dashing towards the kitchen and started to get to work on preparing the soup for his friend.

When he was gone, Viola turned to Marisa, whom seemed to be having some sort of depressed state. "So how has it been really going?"

Marisa shook her head. "Not good. I've been having more of the same nightmare again and again. And what's worse about it is that it feels real." She then started to grow a little frustrated. "Why won't it go away?"

"Calm down, Marisa." Viola reassured her. "Have you talked about this to anyone else?"

Marisa thought about her question for a moment. "Well...I remember talking about with Larcen a long time ago. He seemed to have understood me very well, considering we've been close friends since ever. When my Mom disappeared, I was in Westopolis in search for her. I was only 12 at the time, so I had no idea where I was going. And unfortunately, it was raining by the time I got there, so I had to find some place to keep warm. I had no place to go, so I hid myself in an alleyway and was forced to get myself wet. But I was also sad during that time, because I thought I would never find my Mom." She paused for a second. "And that's when Larcen found me."

"Found you?" Viola wondered.

"He discovered me when I was all alone. My first reaction when I saw him was to get away from him because he looked scary." Marisa paused briefly as she and Viola chuckled at that moment. "But when he approached me, he noticed what I was going through that day. I asked him why he cared about me so much. And Larcen said that he wanted to be my friend. I was surprised by this, because when I was growing up, I never really interacted with anyone else other than my Mom."

"What about your father?" Viola asked.

"I never saw him. He was long dead before I was born." Marisa replied a little sadly. "Anyway, I took Larcen's hand and by that time, I never wanted to part from him. Years later, we discovered this place and made friends with Samson and Kera. And then I knew that I wasn't alone anymore."

"Aside from your friends, it seems like your care about Larcen very much." Viola said.

"If Larcen hadn't discovered me that day, I probably could've died that day." Marisa said, believing that to be true.

To herself, Viola seemed touched by Marisa's story. Marisa's mother disappeared when she was barely a teenager, and she had wondered off to go look for her. Even though she didn't find her Mom, she wounded up connecting with Larcen that day. Other than Louise, it seemed like those two shared a bond that was closer than anything she had seen in her life.

Just then, Samson slightly dashed into the room with a hot bowl of soup in his hands. "It's ready!"

"That was pretty fast." Marisa pointed out.

"Told you I would have it done before you knew it." Samson grinned as he set the bowl down in front of Marisa. "Here you go, senorita Marisa."

"Thank you, Samson." Marisa nodded with a smile as she grabbed her spoon and took a sip of the soup in her mouth, trying to get a feel for the taste.

As Marisa was going to begin taking in some more of her soup, Samson's eyes turned towards the outside of the Saloon. Viola seemed to notice his reaction.

"What is it, Samson?" Viola asked him.

"I thought I heard something outside just a moment ago." Samson replied cautiously. He quietly slipped towards the outside to see if his suspicions were correct.

Viola and Marisa looked at each other. Thinking the same idea, both of the girls got up and followed Samson outside the Saloon.

* * *

Samson was having a stare down as the two girls joined up with him. They were wondering what he was staring at, so they turned in his direction to see for themselves. Both of them gasped at what they saw.

There were two dark figures standing at the other side to where our heroes were standing at. Much to their shock and dismay, the two figures turned out to be Xuan Iakuda, Hellsing's former apprentice. And Mephiles the Dark, who somehow had survived the Black Dragon fight nearly a year ago.

"No...it's you!" Marisa said with horror in her eyes.

Mephiles chuckled at her state of surprise. "How touching. I was actually looking for a 'hello' to someone who hasn't seen you in such a long time. Isn't that right, Xuan?"

"Of course you are, master." Xuan replied with a somewhat calm and dark smile. "Viola. I am most surprised that you would join these group of heroes. Did they blind you to the truth inside yourself, even after you showed your true colors?"

"That's changed!" Viola shouted at him. "If anyone blindsided me, it was you! When I learned of your true nature, I was filled with grief and despair. It made me realize that what I was doing was wrong. I learned that I could use my powers to help others. And..." She paused as she turned her head to Samson. "...I also grew to learn about love."

"Love?" Xuan raised a slight eyebrow. He then noticed Viola looking at the black swallow. Then it suddenly dawned on him. "Ah, I see. You fell in love with him. How charming."

Viola made a slight growl in her voice. "What do you want, anyway?"

"We've come here for a single purpose." Mephiles explained. "To be more precise...it's a person. She will become a very important tool for us."

Samson narrowed his eyes at the two villains. "You're not taking Viola without a fight, amigos!"

"We never said we were after your girlfriend." Xuan told him.

"Our real target..." Mephiles slowly raised his finger at Marisa. "...is her."

Marisa's eyes widened in surprise. "Me?"

"That is correct." Mephiles answered. "Come with us. In this way, we won't need violence to settle this."

Marisa shook her head. "No way! I am never going with someone as the likes of you!"

Xuan chuckled to himself. "We never said you had a choice in the matter. You will come with us." He then raised one arm forward as his hand started to glow with dark magic. "Rise, creatures of the Netherworld. Come forth to light and show these mortals your true power. Unlock the darkness from deep within, so that Netherworld will regain it's sanity and shall be known, once again, as eternal darkness!"

As Xuan finished speaking these words, several rounds of dark portals opened themselves from the sandy ground. New creatures started appear in the flesh. Their faces consisted of metal masks with a purple visor that covered their entire faces. They had dark pinkish tube fluids that was protected by metal and was shown all over their bodies. They had sharp silver claws, and their arms looked very flexible. They each had a green chest plate, six spider-like legs, and their bodies were black as night.

Our heroes were taken back at what they were seeing. These creatures looked very different compared to what our heroes had faced before.

"What in the world are those things?" Marisa asked in disgust.

"These are my creations." Xuan replied. "They are known as Morbids. The former creatures that use to serve Hellsing long ago when the Netherworld was still around."

Viola seemed a little frightened by these creatures. Samson stood in front of her to protect her.

"Go find someplace to hide." Samson whispered.

"But what about you?" Viola asked, obviously worried about him.

"Don't worry." The black swallow said reassuringly. "Me and senorita Marisa will take care of these creatures."

Viola seemed nervous about this, but deep down, she believed in him. "All right. Just be careful." The rainbow lorikeet told him before heading back towards the Saloon to hide inside.

"You ready, senorita Marisa?" Samson asked her.

"Yeah. Let's take these things down." Marisa said with determination in her voice.

Samson pulled out his pistols as he twirled them around before firing bullets at one of the Morbids. However, it had no effect on the creature whatsoever. The Morbid returned the favor by charging at Samson and swiping it's claws at the black swallow. Samson quickly jumped backwards to avoid the strike. He then fired a couple more shots at the Morbid's chest plate. But like before, it still had no effect. The Morbid's claws started to charge with red electricity as it swinged at Samson again. Samson barely avoided it, but he did feel a little bit of a shock on his body as he gripped his right arm in pain.

"I guess getting up close and personal with this guy isn't a smart idea." Samson said to himself. He looked up to see that the Morbid was about to strike at him again with it's charged up red electrical claw. Samson quickly jumped in the air just as the Morbid missed it's attack. While in the air, Samson decided to try a different approach.

_"Drill Beak!" _Samson shouted, as he spinned himself in mid-air while flying towards the Morbid with his spinning beak. Before the Morbid could defend itself, Samson hit his target in the chest plate of the dark creature, causing it to take a couple of steps back while remaining on it's feet. Samson landed back on his feet before looking up to see if he had damaged the Morbid. Unfortunately for him, it didn't really damage the creature at all. But Samson did accomplish one thing: Pissing off the Morbid.

The Morbid looked down at him, looking like it was angered, which it was. Samson decided to move around some while trying to shoot it with it's pistols. But as much as you would expect, the bullets were still not having any effect on the Morbid. The Morbid just looked on at him as Samson continued firing bullets. It then got tired of this as it quickly swiped it's arm down and wrapped it's sharp claws around Samson's throat, lifting him in the air. Samson stared into the visor of the Morbid.

"You look pretty ugly, amigo." Samson insulted with a grin. "And I'm just talking about your whole self. Your face looks even more ugly on the inside."

The Morbid looked pissed off again as the red electricity on it's claws started to charge up again, shocking the life out of Samson. The black swallow gritted his teeth, trying to fight the pain as much as he could. But unfortunately for him, the electricity was slowly able to take him out. The Morbid looked at his unconscious body for a moment before throwing him towards the Saloon, where he crashed next to the side-winder doors.

"Samson!" Viola shouted as she went over to check on him. She was watching the battle from inside the Saloon, but was horrified when she saw that Samson had taken a lot of damage. She pulled him inside to see if she could wake him up.

With Marisa, the mage was up against two other Morbids. She might've been outnumbered, but that wasn't going to hold her back. She created an orb of fire in her hands and casted it towards one of the nearby Morbids. But what she didn't see coming took her by surprise. Instead of damaging the Morbid, the creature's chest plate absorbed Marisa's fire spell.

"What the? That thing absorbed my attack?" Marisa was confused for a moment. "Well, then maybe I can lift these things off their feet."

By that, Marisa created a windy tornado in her hands and fired it towards the two Morbids. The tornado surrounded both of the Morbids. It lifted the Morbids from the ground, but once again, another surprise occurred that took Marisa off guard. The Morbids chest plates glowed again, causing the windy tornado around to disappear within the blink of an eye.

"What's going on?" Marisa asked herself. "Why is my magic not working against these creatures?" Thoughts began brooding through her mind. "Maybe I can blind them against something that could be considered a weakness against darkness."

Marisa raised her arm in the air and created a flash of light, potentially blinding the Morbids. The Morbids just stood there as the light magic shined above them. When the light disappeared, Marisa looked to see that the Morbids still look unaffected, causing Marisa to grow frustrated.

"This is going nowhere!" Marisa shouted in her mind. "Nothing is working..." She looked to see the Morbids were about to attack as red electricity began to charge up their hands. "I have to try something."

She created a surge of electricity in her hand and tried to match the Morbids electrical power with her own. But unexpectedly, Marisa's electricity was already starting to lose energy, causing her eyes to widen in shock.

"My magic...it's disappearing on me! Why?" Marisa asked herself. She tried charging it up again, but the electricity got weaker until it depleted itself completely.

And without warning, one of the Morbids charged towards Marisa and swiped at her chest, causing herself to get shocked by the attack. Before Marisa could have any time to react, another Morbid jumped at her and wrapped it's claws around her neck, sending shock waves of electricity throughout her body.

Marisa cried out in pure agony, trying to fight out of it, but to no avail. From the Saloon, Viola's eyes were in horror as she saw Marisa getting hurt out there each second. These Morbids were a lot stronger than she or her friends could have expected. After a half minute, Marisa was already out like a light, as the Morbid dropped her to the ground.

Mephiles laughed at the sight of this. "Oh, what a wonderful sight this is. It looks like the Morbids have done their job well."

"Indeed, they have." Xuan nodded once. "Shall I have them carry out the order?"

"You may do so, Xuan." Mephiles answered.

After getting the word, Xuan called out to the Morbids. "One of you pick up the girl. She is very important to us."

The Morbid that knocked her out picked up the downed Marisa and lifted her in it's arms. Then they returned to Mephiles and Xuan's side. Viola looked on in shock, not believing what she was seeing.

"It seems like our job here is done." Xuan said. "The girl is now with us."

"Yes. And now that we have her, there is nothing else to do here. Let us leave." Mephiles said as he snapped his fingers, creating a dark ball of energy, engulfing himself, Xuan, the Morbids, and Marisa. Soon, the dark orb started to grow smaller until it disappeared within the blink of an eye. All of the villains, including Marisa, were now gone.

Viola was in pure shock. She did not know what to do. Neither Marisa or Samson could take down these Morbids, and now, Marisa has been abducted by the two villains. What on Earth could they possibly want with Marisa? And for that matter, how will the others react to this? But she knew that two people would be devastated. Larcen the Hedgehog and Louise Harmon: Two people that which Marisa shares a close bond with. It was just too much for Viola to think about.

* * *

**- G.U.N. Headquarters -**

We cut scenes to the main control center of G.U.N. Headquarters. We see the commander in charge, Vi-Zera. Ever since the takeover of G.U.N. Headquarters, everything was going exactly as planned. The fall of Future City was also a success, with Dozrin, whom was in command over there. Over at Future City, the Space Pirates were already at work building robots for their army and it would be only time until the operation was a success.

As Vi-Zera continued to watch as the Space Pirates were busily at work setting up different equipment for weapons and running prototypes to test some of their scientific equipment that Meta Ridley had delievered them before the takeover had started.

The door from behind him began to open, revealing it to be Zed Goodwin, whom was carrying an unconsious Kyla Vonstar in his arms. Vi-Zera turned around to face the human in the eyes.

"I have brought her here, just as you asked." Zed told him.

"Well done, Goodwin. I knew that your efforts would not end in failure." Vi-Zera commented. He then raised an arm in the air and snapped his fingers.

All of a sudden, two Space Robots jumped from the ground below to the ramp and stood next to Vi-Zera, awaiting their orders.

"Take the girl to the lab." He ordered.

The Space Pirates immediately obeyed as that walked over towards Zed as they took Kyla from his arms and carried her away from him until they were completely gone.

"What are you going to do with her?" Zed questioned.

"She needs to be tested by a few simulations. I don't want to her to go to waste, for I have something special planned for her." Vi-Zera answered.

"Does it involve her arm?" Zed asked.

"It does. Because her arm can absorb certain powers, I need for them to be tested to see if there are any bugs before we move on to anything else." Vi-Zera replied. "Why are you asking me these questions?"

Zed stood in silence for a moment before shrugging. "No reason. I was just curious."

"Then you may be excused." Vi-Zera said to him. "Just one thing. No one is allowed in the labs other than the scientists."

"Very well. Call whenever you need me. I will keep of the entire base just in case anyone tries to break in." Zed told him as he turned around and walked off towards the door.

As the door closed on Zed from the outside, his eyes looked back at the door for a moment as a calm smile crossed his face.

"You may have control of Kyla, for now. But I will get her back when the time is right. And there's not a damn thing you or any of these Space Pirates can do about." Zed chuckled to himself before walking off.

* * *

**Each path leads to endless possibilities. Why has Mephiles and Xuan abducted Marisa Harmon? What do the Space Pirates have planned for Kyla? And is Zed planning to betray the Space Pirates? Find out on the next Dawn, Darkness, and War!**

**Please, read and review.**


	7. Making Minds Think Alike

**DAWN, DARKNESS, AND WAR**

Metroid © Nintendo  
OC's © Respective Owners  
Shredder © Mirage

Chapter Six: Making Minds Think Alike

**- Tails Workshop -**

The scene shifts towards Tails Workshop located near the Mystic Ruins. Sonic had gone out for a run, along with meeting Larcen, Kera, and Louise Harmon on the way and also helping out the heroes from Rio Salaz with birthday decorations for Marisa's big day.

Over near the workshop, Iriama was busy showing Tails the features of the Chaos Tank that the G.U.N. agents had used back at G.U.N. Headquarters before it was taken over by the Space Pirates.

"Wow, this tank is so cool!" Tails exclaimed happily. "I've never seen so many features that are similar to Shadow's chaos powers."

"It is pretty clever, if I do say so myself." Iriama grinned. "The only downside is that only Shadow can drive it and not any of us. I don't know why, though. I've always wanted to drive a tank."

"Well, it's still impressive, either way." Tails said as he looked around the tank. "I don't see any scratches or anything that looks damaged."

"That's because this tank is still new, mate. And if I might add, Shadow is a pretty skillfull driver." Iriama nodded, proving his point.

"I have no doubts about that." Tails added. "I wonder if it's possible for this tank to have any new upgrades."

"Hmm...I'm not sure." Iriama thought. "I don't remember installing any upgrades when this tank was still being developed."

"If that's the case, then maybe we can modify it's systems so that it will be more useful the next time we need it." Tails said.

Iriama rubbed his head about Tails thought. "That's actually not a bad idea. But how? I mean, all of the equipment is back at G.U.N. Headquarters. And there is NO way we're going back there."

"No need to worry about that. I can make the modifications myself. It will take while before it's done, though." Tails pointed out.

"Well, if you say so. I hear that you are a mechanical genius, so if you know what you need to do, then go for it." Iriama told him with a smile before he thought up of something. "I do wonder how Shadow would feel about this?"

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind." Tails replied.

"Are you sure?" Iriama wondered.

"Yeah." Tails nodded. "I'm sure Shadow wouldn't mind at all. Besides, he can fight on his own without a tank."

After hearing Tails point, Iriama nodded. "You're right. That guy knows how to handle himself in a fight."

Over with Shadow, we see the black hedgehog with his arms crossed and his eyes closed, as if he was in his own mind. Rouge, whom was not too far away, looked concerned for him and decided to talk to him.

"Shadow?" Rouge called out.

Shadow opened his eyes and looked over at Rouge. "What is it?"

"Is there something on your mind? Ever since we arrived at Tails Workshop, you haven't really done much other than being by yourself." Rouge explained. "Is it about the Commander?"

Shadow turned his eyes towards the sky. "A little bit. My real concern is what they are planning to do next. Vi-Zera said that they plan on taking over the major populaces."

"Your have a point. He could attack anywhere and we wouldn't know about it." Rouge said, feeling a little despressed about their situation. "If only there was a way we could figure out where he's attacking so that we could try and prevent it from happening."

As the two were trying to think about that situation, Omega's eyes picked up something. "Scanners indicating several life forms heading this way."

Shadow and Rouge heard Omega as they joined with him to see where Omega was looking at. There, they could see three familiar figures. Strike and Aqua. The two of them flew towards the workshop as they landed their gear on the ground before hopping off.

Tails and Iriama also noticed them as the fox's eyes widened in surprise.

"It's Strike and Aqua!" Tails exclaimed.

"Who?" Iriama asked, confused as to who those two hedgehog's were.

"They are friends of ours from the past. Come on, I'll let you meet them." Tails said, as he and Iriama went towards the three figures.

Tails, Iriama, Shadow, Rouge, and Omega met up with Strike and Aqua.

"Hey guys! It's good to see you again!" Tails greeted happily.

Strike smiled back. "Hey Tails, long time no see. How have you been?"

"Pretty good." Tails nodded in reply. "You guys haven't changed much."

"Nope." Aqua shook her head with a smile. "We're still the same, too."

"Uh, excuse me?" Iriama popped in to see the two hedgehog's for himself.

Strike raised an eyebrow at the shark. "Who are you suppose to be?"

"The name is Iriama, mate." The shark grinned with his flashy teeth. "And I am also a member of G.U.N."

"Nice to meet you..." Strike replied as he slowly shook his head. "I'm Strike. And this is my friend, Aqua Bubbles."

"Pleased to meet you." Aqua smiled at Iriama.

"Likewise, mate." Iriama nodded back.

"So, what brings you two here?" Rouge asked. "You came here just to say hello?"

"We actually came here to warn you guys about something. We don't know if you know this, but there was a strange group of aliens that took over Future City." Strike replied with seriousness.

Everyone's eyes perked up at this information, most noticeably Tails. "The Space Pirates?"

"Wait, you know them?" Strike asked, confused as to how they know these species.

"Way ahead of you." Rouge replied. "Those aliens took over G.U.N. Headquarters and pretty much kicked us out."

"Did you figure out what they were after?" Aqua asked.

"The one in charge was named Vi-Zera." Shadow answered. "He said that Dr. Eggman Meta Ridley have joined together to conquer each of the world's major landmarks. They won't stop until they've taken full control of the world."

"That sounds bad. But who's this Meta Ridley?" Strike asked.

"He is this giant metal-like dragon. We don't really know much about him, other than Samus." Rouge replied.

This posed as a problem for Strike. Although this also concerned our other heroes as well. They don't know who Meta Ridley was, and even though they saw a brief glimpse of him some months back, that's all they knew about him. Originally, they thought he was just an ordinary dragon who didn't really pose as a problem when they were taking down the Lord of Darkness. Now however, that has changed. Apparently, Meta Ridley was a bigger threat than they imagined. And by combining forces with Dr. Eggman, it would only be that much more difficult to take down him and the Space Pirate army.

"Strike..." Aqua whispered in his ear. "Didn't they say that these Space Pirates were going to take over every part of the world?"

"Yeah..." Strike nodded slowly. Then, a horrible feeling took over him. "You don't think..."

"I do..." Aqua said worriedly, referring to what she was talking about.

Strike's eyes started to widen in horror. Iriama noticed his worried look. "Is there anything wrong, mate? It looks like you've seen a ghost."

Making up his mind, Strike nodded his head in determination. "...I'm sorry to cut our visit short, but we have to get going."

"Why? What's the matter?" Tails asked, obviously concerned for his friend.

Before he could get an answer, Strike and Aqua turned around and got on their boards as they rode off without leaving a good-bye towards our heroes.

"Well, that was weird." Rouge thought. "They just took off as if something important just came up."

That's what Tails believed, as well. But was there really something important that involves Strike and Aqua? If so, then what was it?

With Strike and Aqua, the two hedgehogs were riding in the air on their Extreme Gear boards, flying their way to an unknown destination.

"Are you sure this is the right idea? Why couldn't we just tell them to come with us?" Aqua asked him. "I'm sure they would help out."

"It's too important. We have to get there as soon as possible before anything bad happens." Strike replied, keeping his eyes focused ahead.

"What about Ash? He said he was going over towards G.U.N. Headquarters to find out what's been going on over there." Aqua added.

"I'm sure he will be fine on his own." Strike replied. "If he knows what he's doing, then it's best not to get involved unless if it's an emergency."

Aqua would only hope the same way. But somehow, she had her doubts.

* * *

The scene cuts to the dark forest, where we could see the main hideout in where the Shadow of Eyes hang out. We could see Mendilina and Vision showing their new leader: the Shredder, everything about their forest. There were even new members of the Shadow of Eyes that Vision had discussed with Shredder, even though they haven't encountered them yet. However that was all about to change as soon as they made it to their destination. The area was filled with green fire torches that circled the area. The mist that was near the entrance did not gather around this part of the area, thanks to the visible light of the green flames. And also presence was a small fire pit that was also encased with green flames. The wood supporting it was surprisingly special that would allow a flame to not go out for a very, very long time.

Once they made it to their destination, Vision stopped them as he approached the fire. His eyes darted around the forest, as if he was trying to look for something.

"My friends. Come out now, for our master has finally returned. And as his new servants, it is our duty to show him what we are capable of in this time of crisis! We must support him in whatever he desires most, so rise now and show him who you really are!" Vision called out.

For a moment, nothing happened. But then, three new figures slowly jumped out from the mist and scampered their way towards the fire pit, revealing themselves in the flesh. All of them looked different from each other, which kept things fresh for the Shadow of Eyes. The three stood next to each other, coming face to face with Vision.

"Greetings, my friends. I thank you for coming out here. As I have just said, a new leader has come for us and has joined us to see the light of a new day. I present him to you now." Vision gestured Shredder to show himself to these other members, as the metal warrior approached the three and looked at them with his glowing red eyes.

"Identify yourselves at once. I want to know who you are." Shredder ordered.

The first member was a male ox with red eyes. He had red fur that was encased with and old metal chest-plate that still looked really useful and well built on the ox. He had yellow horns that seemed to be glowing with a strange aura, purple armbands that attached itself between his wrist and elbow areas, black slacks and black armored shoes.

The ox stepped forward and bowed. "My name is Peramidus. I have been waiting for years for our leader to return to the forest so that I may be honored to serve him once again. I promise that I won't let you down."

The second member turned out to be a female cat with green eyes. She had brown fur with an eye patch covering her right eye, and a red bandanna wrapped around her head. She wore black fingerless gloves, a black top around her chest, blue slacks and tan colored boots. The most noticeable thing about her, other than her eye patch, was that she was carrying a bow and arrow on her back.

The cat was next as she introduced herself. "The name is Kelsey. I am a swiftful marksman and I rarely ever miss my mark on a target. Once I have a target, I never lose sight of it. You need someone like me on the job, then I'm here ready and waiting for your orders." She briefly stated with her arms crossed and didn't really bare a smile on her face.

The last member of the group was very different from anyone else here. Believe it or not, the figure was a skeleton made out of bones and had green glowing eyes. It wore a blue-colored fashion hat that looked similar to Rothion's, a blue suit with a blue tuxedo around it's collar. It had blue slacks, and dark blue boots. And it was also carrying a black wooden staff that had a blue crystal orb placed at the top.

The skeleton grinned as he saw the Shredder. "Ah, so you are the new master that Vision is talking about? How very interesting. Perhaps you and I can be best buddies after all!"

"State your name, you cur!" Shredder demanded with his claws pointed at him.

"Ah yes, right." The skeleton nodded as he took off his hat and bowed gracefully. "I am Alastor. It is an utmost honor to be at your presence. With you here, now we don't have to be all lonely, doing whatever we want to please ourselves. And boy, is that a relief! For a moment, I thought I was going to die out here. Oh wait, I'm already dead. How silly of me." Alastor said, as he laughed at his own joke.

"Oh bother..." Mendilina sighed, not really taking any amusement from his joke.

Vision stood at attention, getting everyone else's attention. "Now that everyone is here, we will now turn our attention to our new master. Whatever he desires, we will give it to him. Shredder, if there is anything you like to say, go ahead. The stage is yours."

Shredder took a moment as he stared at the new members. "I see that you respond quickly without question. You all looked well prepared to take on the enemy head-on. I had heard about you from different sources and rumors. How you hide away from the public and from the daylight so that no one would discover your whereabouts. And it looks like they were correct."

"Stupid rumors." Kelsey muttered. "I hate them."

"We have been in hiding for so long ever since our previous master had vanished. And because of this, we had no one else to turn to. But now that your here, our future can begin anew." Peramidus said.

Shredder noticed the eyepatch hanging around Kelsey's eye. "I see that you have a wound around your eye."

"What, this?" Kelsey pointed out. "It's nothing. I just lost it in an accident, that's all."

"You seem to be taking it well, for someone who had lost one of their eyes." Shredder said. "That's the mark of a true soldier."

Kelsey said nothing as she just shrugged it off, not really paying any attention to it.

"Oh, come now. It's not like anything else could've been worse. Like, oh I don't know, getting dunked in a shark tank with no support whatsoever." Alastor said, shuddering at the thought.

Shredder took notice of the skeleton figure. "And what are you suppose to be?"

"Me? Why, I was made out of magic." Alastor answered with a grin. "Thanks to my previous master, he created me out of special magic that made me unkillable no matter what. And the best part is..." Alastor held it, trying not to laugh. "...I'm already dead!" He bursted out laughing again at his own joke.

Most of them, mainly being Mendilina and Kelsey, not really amused at Alastor's 'dead' joke.

"You will have to excuse Alastor. He seems to get carried away whenever it comes to dead related jokes that refer to him." Vision said to the Shredder.

Shredder took word of this as he looked at all of the members of the Shadow of Eyes. He knew that he made the right decision of taking position as leader of this group. Now everything was going according to plan. And to him, he knew this was only the beginning.

* * *

The scene shifts towards of an unknown castle. The sky itself was dark and it was covered with mist, kind of like the dark forest, but only different from that. The inside looked old and looked to be abandoned, seeing as how no one was here.

However, there was somebody here. We could see Rothion the Owl and Eve the Cat joining together in the main room where it was filled with lit-torches from each corner of the room. There was also a throne sitting to where a balcony was right behind it. The two villains had the Master Emerald with them after successfully taking it from Knuckles the Echidna from Angel Island.

"Excellent! The Master Emerald is ours!" Rothion laughed insanely.

"As much as I LOVE jewelry, what are we suppose to do with it?" Eve questioned. "You do know that there is a war that hasn't started yet, have you?"

"I am well aware of that." Rothion told her. "We can use this as the beginning for the resurrection of Black Doom! Once he is revived, he shall call upon the Black Arms and take back the world that he so rightfully desires!"

"And just how do you plan on doing that?" A smooth voice questioned.

Eve and Rothion quickly turned their heads to see who it was that spoke to them. The voice turned out to be the familiar figure of Saladan the Tiger. The brown tiger walked himself in as he slowly walked towards the two villains.

"Hey! Who are you?" Eve demanded as she pulled out her scythe and raised it in the air. "Answer me, or else I'll tear you to shreds!"

"Peace." Saladan said calmly as he joined up with the two villains. "I am only here for curiosity."

"Well, it would be better if you told us who you are." Rothion said to him.

"My name is Saladan. I am known as the Watcher of the Moon. And it had guided me here to this old castle, leading me to you two." The tiger replied.

"That's a plausible excuse." Eve muttered to herself. "What do you want?"

"I have overheard that you want to resurrect the Black Arms leader known as Black Doom. But in order for that to work, you need not only the Master Emerald, but the seven Chaos Emeralds as well." Saladan explained.

"That's easy. We'll just track them down and locate them." Rothion briefly said. "That's pretty simple, if I do say so myself."

Saladan smiled a little. "Perhaps you realize that there is a war that will soon take place of itself. What are you going to do then? Are you going to join the Space Pirates?"

"Are you joking?" Rothion asked, like he was crazy. "Those creatures don't even care who they take out. I'm not going out there with a bunch of lunatics."

"Then how about Mephiles?" Saladan questioned. "I have heard that he is still alive."

Rothion's eyes flashed open. "Really? He is? T-This is miraculous! We must find him immediately and rejoin him as soon as possible!"

"Before you get your feathers tangled up, you have to stop and think about it." Saladan told him. "Do you really think he would take you back?"

"W-What are you talking about? Of course he would!" Rothion argued.

"I hate to say it, but I have to agree with the tiger." Eve said as she looked at Rothion. "Be honest. Mephiles really doesn't care about servants and manipulated everyone into getting what he wants. That isn't somebody I would want to align with if I was in a desperate situation."

As much as he hated to admit it, Eve did have a point. It had been nearly a year since the battle against the three headed Black Dragon, and no word of Mephiles had been heard of until now. Perhaps this was a sign for Mephiles as a time to move on from the past and not take one look back.

"Well, it seems you are in a tight spot." Saladan said with his arms crossed and his scythe still in hand. "Fortunately, I do have an idea."

"You do?" Rothion raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"If you still want to someone to align with, then perhaps I could forge up someone from within the Master Emerald's power. By combining my magic along with emerald's, I might be able to call out a new being to help us out."

"That sounds like a nice idea, but what if it doesn't work?" Eve questioned.

"It will work." Saladan remarked. "Now stand back."

They did what they said, as Saladan got into position with the Master Emerald. He closed his eyes as he tapped his scythe on the ground, releasing a wave of powerful dark energy from within the Master Emerald. The Master Emerald shined brightly as dark energy started to spread above the shining jewel. Rothion and Eve could only watch as to see what would happen once the dark ritual was complete.

* * *

**- G.U.N. Headquarters -**

The final scene shifts towards G.U.N. Headquarters. Up at the command center, we could see Vi-Zera observing everything as the Space Pirates did their jobs on calculating every little step and heading towards the lab every now and then, where Kyla Vonstar was also being held. What's going to happen to her was anyone's guess.

On screen, Dr. Eggman showed himself again. Still with a grin on his face. Decoe and Bocoe were at his side as well. Vi-Zera noticed this and stood at attention.

"Is everything going according to order, Vi-Zera?" Eggmand questioned.

"Yes, sir." Vi-Zera replied. "Future City has successfully been taken over and the robots are beginning under construction as we speak."

"Excellent." Eggman was delighted to hear this.

"Why is it that you contacted me?" Vi-Zera asked.

"We are only here to give you the next phase of the invasion." Decoe told him.

"Now that G.U.N. Headquarters and Future City have been taken over, now would be time to move on to something bigger. And I'm sure you know what we're talking about." Bocoe added.

"Indeed. And if I'm not mistaken, Luthemia will be leading the invasion force." Vi-Zera pointed out.

"That's correct. Now I'm sure you know what to do, so get to it." Dr. Eggman ordered, as he cut off transmission.

Once Dr. Eggman's image was gone, Vi-Zera pressed a button on his communicator, as is he was contacting someone.

"Luthemia, your orders have been given. Set a course for the next target: Soleanna." Vi-Zera commanded before cutting off transmission.

* * *

**Waves of suspense and tension fills the air for both sides. Where is Strike going that has gotten him so worried about? What does the Shredder have in mind for his new group? And what is Saladan going to conjure up from the powers of the Master Emerald and his magic? Find out on the next Dawn, Darkness, and War!**

**Please, read and review.**


	8. Alliances Bond

**DAWN, DARKNESS, AND WAR**

Metroid © Nintendo  
OC's © Respective Owners  
? © Saban

Chapter Seven: Alliances Bond

**- Soleanna -**

The scene shifts towards Soleanna. Sonic the Hedgehog had met up with the jewelry owners of Yublein the Tyrannosaurus, Alyson Sweet, and Spade Pterodactyl, along with Louise Harmon, Larcen the Hedgehog, and Kera the Hedgehog. The heroes from Rio Salaz came by to see if they could find anything for Marisa's birthday. Stuff like decorations, presents, and invitations were the main priorities. When they ran into Sonic, he decided to help out, being a good friend and all. The jewelry owners also helped out by giving Louise a heart-shaped necklace to Marisa, as it would be really special for her, considering how the necklace was priceless.

Sonic was currently looking for decorations for Marisa's big upcoming party. He already had gotten the usual things you would normally see at parties, as he kept them secured in a bag while dashing around trying to find some more. He stopped for a moment to recheck his list.

"Let's see. I already got streamers, banners, wrapping paper for the presents." The blue hedgehog pondered in thought. "I wonder if I'm missing anything?"

Sonic decided to double check his list. He marked off the things that he had already gotten, so there wasn't really any need to worry about that. He walked forwards without looking in where he was going. And because of this, he had bumped into someone in front of him. The blue hedgehog rubbed his head in pain.

"Man, talk about walking into a brick wall." Sonic said to himself. "Maybe I should pay attention to where I'm going." He looked up to see what he had bumped into. "Knuckles?"

The red echidna rubbed his head as he got back to his feet and glared a little at Sonic. "You know, you really should keep your eye in front of you! That way, you can reduce yourself from running into anyone."

"Hey now, I'm sorry about that, Knux." Sonic pleaded nervously. "It was an accident. By the way, what are you doing here?"

"Before you bumped into me, I was actually going off to search for the Master Emerald." Knuckles answered him.

"Really? And it lead you here to Soleanna?" Sonic wondered.

"Not quite. I was actually going to pass by this place until you bumped into me." Knuckles told him.

"Again, it was an accident." Sonic reminded him.

"All right, fine. I'll shut up about that part." Knuckles said. He noticed the bag of party stuff inside Sonic's bag. "What's with all that stuff?"

"Oh, this?" Sonic showed Knuckles the decorations. "Marisa Harmon is going to have a birthday soon. And I'm gathering up decorations for her big party."

"That's nice and all. But how do you know all this?" Knuckles asked.

"From Louise. She, Larcen, and Kera are also here looking for gifts for Marisa." Sonic explained. "And as for invitations, I figure why not invite everybody we know and have the biggest party for the birthday girl ever!"

"That sounds like a nice idea. However, until I find my Master Emerald, I think I'll pass." Knuckles replied.

"All right, but it sounds like your going to make one girl very upset." Sonic retorted with a wave of his finger.

Knuckles narrowed his eyes at Sonic again. "Don't try that on me again. It won't work."

As Sonic was trying to get Knuckles to give in, a dark shadow covered over them. In fact, it didn't just cover the two heroes. It covered the entire city of Soleanna. Everyone, including Sonic and Knuckles, looked up to see what was up above them. It was a large ship, similar to the one we had seen from Future City when the Space Pirates invaded.

"What is that thing?" Sonic asked, surprised by this.

"It's some kind of ship. But I wonder who it belongs too?" Knuckles wondered about that.

Both of the heroes turned their heads when they both had thought up of something. "Eggman!"

"Come on, let's go find the others." Sonic told him.

"Right." Knuckles nodded.

Both of the heroes dashed off, in hoping to find the other heroes from Rio Salaz before it was too late.

* * *

Elsewhere in town, Louise, Larcen, and Kera were also seeing what was going. Everyone else in town was scared at what they were seeing.

"What's a giant ship doing here?" Kera wondered. "Do you think it belongs to Dr. Eggman?"

"It must be true." Louise thought. "I don't know anyone else who could pilot a ship that size."

Larcen believed that to be true as well. His eyes widened at something in particular. "Look. Something is opening up!"

The three looked at the hatch that slowly opened itself up. Soon afterwards, numerous Space Pirates dropped from the ship towards the ground of the city, much to the terror of the other people as they fled in fear. The Space Pirates wasted no time in running in all directions of the city while more dropped down towards the ground.

Kera turned towards Larcen. "Hey Larcen, does any of this look familiar?"

"Yeah." Larcen nodded. "This feels like what happened when the Black Arms invaded here. But this time, it looks a lot more threatening than usual."

"What are you two talking about?" Louise wondered.

"That's not important. The important thing is trying to defend this city from these creatures." Kera stated as she pulled out her Dragon Sword.

"We need to find Sonic, as well." Larcen added, as he pulled out his dagger. "No doubt he's already noticed what's going on."

"Your right." Louise nodded. "Let's find him and regroup with each other."

Kera noticed a few of the Space Pirates heading towards them. "Look alive!"

The Space Pirates jumped from building to building as they jumped towards the ground and charged after our heroes. Louise was the first to counter by firing a ray of fire at the Space Pirate. The Space Pirate jumped out of the way as the fire passed by the attack. The Space Pirate fired it's Galvanic Cannon at the sage, in which Louise widened her eyes as she jumped to the side to barely avoid the shots. However, one of the shots got her in the side as a piece of her shirt was ripped off. Louise created a wave of thunder in her hand and sent it flying towards the Space Pirate, damaging it and sending it flying backwards towards the ground.

Louise held her left hip to notice the hole in her shirt. "It seems like there is more to these aliens than meets the eye. They certainly aren't anything like the Black Arms, but what could they be? And what do they want here?"

Another Space Pirate jumped at Kera with it's sword-arm, but Kera was ready to return the favor as she defended herself with her sword. The force of the clash, sent Kera sliding a few feet, but was able to stand her ground. The Dragon Sword glowed red as she blasted fire at the Space Pirate, burning the alien. However, the Space Pirate wasn't done as it charged at Kera again. Kera was surprised to see that the Space Pirate was still moving, even though it was in flames. Still, she decided to fight back as the two clashed their blades together repeatedly. The Space Pirate aimed it's Galvanic Cannon at Kera's head. The purple hedgehog's eyes widened as she quickly ducked and rolled underneath the weapon before it could fire. Kera got to her feet again as she swinged her sword at the Space Pirate's back. The Space Pirate stumbled forward a couple of steps, but did not go down. The Space Pirate spinned it's head around towards Kera, obviously angered by her actions. The Space Pirate swinged it's sword-arm at her head again, but Kera was able to quickly duck underneath the attack as she aimed her sword at it's stomach. The sword glowed yellow as a blast of electricity fired straight at the Space Pirate's stomach, sending the alien staggering backwards before letting out a loud cry of agony before falling towards the ground, dead.

"That alien was a lot tougher than I thought." Kera thought to herself. "If that's how the rest of these creatures are, then we could all be in for a rough fight."

Larcen was trying to fend off a Space Pirate of his own. He tried to go in for a close cut with his dagger, but the Space Pirate was too fast for him as it kept dodging his attacks. The Space Pirate used it's sword-arm to slice at Larcen's head, but Larcen was barely able to avoid it by a few inches even though he staggered backwards a few steps from the force of it's swing. Larcen regained his footing as he saw the Space Pirate firing it's Galvanic Cannon at him. Since it was so quick, Larcen took the shots to the stomach, as he cried out in pain while falling to one knee.

"Damn...that h-hurt." Larcen grunted in pain. Luckily those shots didn't kill him, but that was sure close. Larcen slowly got back to his feet, but the shots he took got an effect on him as he gripped his stomach in pain. When he was distracted, the Space Pirate took action and used it's sword-arm to kill Larcen. The dark blue hedgehog looked up to see that the Space Pirate was about to lunge at him at any moment.

A strike of lightning came out of nowhere and striked the Space Pirate in mid-air, sending the alien flying towards the ground. Larcen wondered where that came from. He turned to Louise, thinking that it might've been her. "Thanks Louise, for saving me there."

"That wasn't me, Larcen." Louise replied. She was confused to hear Larcen say that.

"Really?" Larcen wondered. "Then who was it?"

"The answer would be me." A voice replied.

Larcen turned to see two familiar faces. Strike the Hedgehog and Aqua Bubbles. Two friends he had met back at the World Tennis Tournament. The two hedgehogs approached them.

"Strike! Aqua!" Louise exclaimed as she smiled. "Thank goodness you guys are here!"

"What's going on?" Kera asked. "We haven't seen you guys in a while since the tournament ended."

"I think we can get on to old times a little later." Strike told her before turning his attention to Larcen. "Are you all right? You almost witnessed a death experience."

"Yeah. I'm all right." Larcen replied. "Thanks for saving me." If those two hadn't shown up, then he would've died a second time. He didn't want to be reminded on how he died the first time.

"That's good to know." Strike said as he slightly lowered his head. "But I think we're already too late."

"What do you mean?" Louise asked. "Is something wrong?"

Aqua could tell what Strike was feeling, so she decided to step up for him. "We can talk about it later. Right now, we need to get out of here."

"But we can't leave Sonic! He's still here!" Louise told them.

"Sonic?" Strike raised an eyebrow. "What is he doing here?"

"It's a long story." Larcen replied. "But for now, let's just look for him. He's probably fighting off these aliens, himself."

Everybody nodded, as they ran off in search for Sonic the Hedgehog.

* * *

The Space Pirates have covered a large portion of Soleanna from the short time of their arrival. The jewelry owners were still in the city, as they were trying to find a way out of the city without trying to get into any confrontation with these Space Pirates.

"Oh, this is so bothersome!" Yublein complained. "I can't believe that these monsters would come here and ruin this pleasant day! It's a disgrace!"

"I have to agree with you." Spade nodded, as he flew while the other two ran. "Normally, I wouldn't mind this kind of stuff happening. But here? I mean, it's Soleanna! The city of water, not the city of aliens!"

The trio kept their pace. Unfortunately, one of them wasn't in luck. Alyson Sweet was running in her heels, and because of this, she suddenly tripped and fell on her bare knees on the hard ground, making her cry out in pain. Yublein and Spade turned around.

"Alyson!" Yublein's eyes widened, as he rushed over to side.

Alyson held her right knee to see that there was already blood starting to show. "I-I'm hurt, darling. I can't walk."

A roar from the distance could be heard, as a group of Space Pirates headed towards their direction. Yublein looked up to see them coming. "At this rate, we may not be able to out-run these creatures if Alyson's knee is injured." He thought about it for a moment until he narrowed his eyes. "I'm going after them."

"What?" Alyson raised her eyes in surprise.

"Are you serious?" Spade asked him, like he was crazy.

"I will distract them. You go on ahead without me." Yublein told them before rushing off towards the on-coming Space Pirates.

"Darling, wait!" Alyson raised her hand forward to stop him. But he was already gone.

"Come on, Alyson. I'll carry you on my back." Spade said to her.

"But Yublein! We can't leave him here!" Alyson told him.

"He'll be fine. Let's get going!" Spade told her.

Alyson wasn't reluctant at first, but she gave in and hopped on his back. Spade then flapped his wings as he took off in the air.

* * *

The royal guards of Soleanna were doing no good against the Space Pirates. The aliens easily cut them down like they were nothing. Some of the citizens didn't make it either, as they were also killed, injured, or even taken prisoners of the Space Pirates.

A group of Space Pirates were about to spread off into the next part of the city, but before they could do that, one of them noticed Yublein charging towards them. The Space Pirates got into position as the Tyrannosaurus Rex approached them. Yublein made it to an open area of the city as the Space Pirates and him met in a stare down.

The Space Pirates cautiously got into stance as they surrounded Yublein in a circle. Yublein eyed each of them, waiting for the first one to strike. The Space Pirate in the front left started to jump at him with it's sword-arm. Yublein met the challenge as he swinged his tail at the alien, striking it in the air as it went flying across the air and skidded across the ground. Another Space Pirate used his Galvanic Cannon and fired it at Yublein. With amazing speed, Yublein dodged the shots as he used his head to smash the Space Pirate, sending it flying backwards towards the ground. When his back was turned, another Space Pirate from behind used it's sword-arm to slash at Yublein's leg, making the dinosaur roar in pain. However, Yublein quickly used his tail again to smash the Space Pirate and send it flying towards a building. The Space Pirate crashed against a wall before falling towards the ground. Another Space Pirate latched onto his back as it started to slashed at Yublein, trying to tear him to shreds. Yublein tried to shake him off as he roared angrily. He spinned himself in a circle trying to get him off, until finally it worked as the Space Pirate flew off and landed back on it's feet.

Yublein narrowed his eyes at the Space Pirate as he roared before opening his mouth and charging at the alien creature, wanting to get him in his teeth. The Space Pirate jumped out of the way as Yublein charged right past it. Yublein quickly stopped himself before turning towards the Space Pirate again where he quickly used a headbutt to smash the Space Pirate, sending him sliding backwards some feet before stopping. Before the Space Pirate could react, Yublein quickly used his jaws and chomped at the Space Pirate's Galvanic Cannon, where he forcefully crunched the alien weapon into pieces. The Space Pirate grasped it's arm to recover from the jaws of Yublein. Green blood started to pour from the broken weapon, and before it could find time to react, Yublein used it's tail once more to smash at the Space Pirate, sending it flying towards a wall of a building. The Space Pirate crashed head-first into the wall before the alien creature fell towards the ground, where it died right there.

Yublein turned to see three Space Pirates standing there, waiting a response from Yublein. For some reason, just by looking into Yublein's eyes, he looked really angry. For a moment, it looked like they were retreating as they slowly took a step backwards each time. Yublein slowly started to approach them, as if he was stalking his prey. Which was exactly what he was doing.

"Not so tough now, are you?" Yublein chuckled unusually. "I do say, tearing you to shreds will be most fun indeed." By the way he said that, it sounded like his whole personality had started to change.

The Space Pirates hesitated for a moment, but they remained calm, as if this was nothing to worry about. Yublein looked like he was going to have his way, but unknown to him, a squad of Space Pirates had appeared as if from almost nowhere. Yublein turned around to see that there were more than four dozens of Space Pirates blocking his way. Yublein noticed that he could indeed be surrounded.

A cackling laugh was heard as Yublein looked up to see a egg-sized pod hovering in the air. Inside the pod, revealed Dr. Eggman and his assitants: Decoe and Bocoe.

"Well, it seems you've put up quite a resistance against the Space Pirates." Eggman said interestingly.

"Ah, you must be that man I've heard so much about. Dr. Eggfat, correct?" Yublein asked with a smile.

"Hey, how dare you purposely get someone's name wrong!" Bocoe shouted at him.

"Yeah! It's Dr. Eggman! Do your research!" Decoe told him.

"Especially for someone who will soon conquer the world." Bocoe added.

"So, you are behind this, are you?" Yublein questioned the scientist

"You are partically correct." Eggman replied. "But I'm afraid you've got much to learn. You see, I have many other Space Pirate Commanders that have taken over many other places. And soon, Soleanna will be the next victim. But while I'm here, I've noticed your fighting prowess. Although it's nothing special, I believe we can rearrange that." Eggman grinned maniacally.

"Oh yeah? Well, you're not taking me without a fight." Yublein narrowed his eyes at Dr. Eggman.

"I believe that this fight is already over." Eggman retorted. "Space Pirates! Surround him!"

The Space Pirates quickly surrounded the Tyrannosaurus Rex, making sure they blocked all signs of escape. Yublein looked to see that all of his chances of an opening were closed up by the Space Pirates.

"Well, now that I have you in my grasp, it is now time for the fun to begin!" Eggman laughed insanely again. "Space Pirates, attack!"

* * *

Spade was still carrying Alyson as they just about made it out of the Soleanna that was nearly infested by Space Pirates. Spade gently dropped Alyson on the ground to check up on her bloody knees.

"Hang on, Alyson. Let me clear that mess up." Spade said as he grabbed out a bandanna and wrapped it around her knee, preventing more blood from coming out. He tied a knot around it to make sure it would stay there. "There you go. Now stand to see if you can walk it out."

Alyson did what he said as she slowly, but steadily, got to her feet. Despite the heels, she was able to stand straight. She slowly walked a few steps, and then a few more to make sure she was OK. "I seem to be fine. A little shaky, but otherwise all right."

"Good." Spade smiled. "Now we don't have to worry about that."

Alyson's eyes turned back towards the city to see that Yublein had not returned yet. She was really worried about him. She narrowed her eyes as she quickly ran back inside the city to find him.

"Alyson, wait!" Spade yelled out. But she was still running. He sighed to himself before running after her.

Alyson was running into the edge of town until a few Space Pirates jumped from the top of the buildings and landed with an impact, as Alyson stopped herself and stared at the alien creature in fright.

"Alyson! Turn back now! Hurry!" Spade shouted as he rushed towards her as fast as he could.

Alyson was in so much fright as she saw the Space Pirates for her own eyes. She was so frightened, that she could feel her legs move. They were stiff as ice and she was frozen there. One of the Space Pirates, without warning, leaped in the air and prepared to strike at Alyson with it's sword-arm.

"ALYSON! NO!" Spade screamed in pure horror.

Alyson quickly shut her eyes, not wanting to watch her horrifying end as the Space Pirate was about ready to kill her.

But as luck would have it, a purple blur came in front of her and striked the Space Pirate with a saber sword, sending it flying towards the ground. Alyson slowly opened her eyes to see that the Space Pirate that was about to kill her was gone. Where did it go? She then saw something that her caught her attention, including the Space Pirates and Spade.

There were three figures standing eye to eye with the other two Space Pirates. The first figure was a male purple tiger, whom was wearing a blue armor vest, black pants, black gloves, and black tennis shoes. His eyes were green, and he also wore a communicator on his arm. He also had an Extreme Gear board design was a red board with a purple stripe going down the middle. There was no mistaking it. This was Armand Novak the Tiger, son of the legendary Tobias Novak. He had been a big help from before and was in a couple of tournaments in the past along with the Sonic Heroes.

The second figure was a male orange fox wearing a short-sleeve gray leather shirt, black shoes, black shorts, and brown gloves, as well as a water cannon. He was also wearing a white headband with a blue stripe across it. His Extreme gear was a green board with a yellow stripe down the middle, and a blue button near the front for braking. This was Basil Giles the Fox. An older brother to Tails and a former partcipant of the World Tennis Tournament.

And the last figure was a brown boar who is wearing red armor all over his upper chest, blue pants, white shoes, and white gloves that didn't look like normal gloves you would often see from either Sonic or Shadow's. From his look, he looked like he was ready to get down to business.

"Who are they?" Spade wondered.

"I...don't know." Alyson replied slowly. She was still confused at what was going on. Did these three just save her from getting killed?

"I don't know what these creatures are, but obviously, they aren't good." Armand stated. "You ready, Basil?"

"Ready when you are." Basil grinned.

"And you, Axel?" Armand asked him.

"Oh yeah." Axel nodded once. "Just give the word."

"Then let's take them down!" Armand said with determination as the three got on their Extreme Gear boards and rode towards the Space Pirates.

The Space Pirates didn't know what to make of these creatures. Nevertheless they aimed their Galvanic Cannon's at the three and started to fire away.

"Incoming fire!" Basil warned.

The three split up from each other as the Space Pirates looked around, trying to figure out who was going to attack first. The first to answer that call was Basil as he rode towards them head-on.

"Let's see you guys get soaked with this!" Basil said as he grabbed out his water cannon and fired a ray of water at one of the Space Pirates. The force of the water was strong enough to blast the Space Pirate with enough force to almost fly across thirty feet into the air before falling towards the ground with a loud thud.

But that didn't end there. Axel took his turn as he grinned and got his fist winded backwards, aiming it at the other Space Pirate.

"You better keep your head on. Because this is going to hurt. And I mean badly." Axel noted as heat started to surround his fist. "Meteor Dive!"

The force of the punch striked the Space Pirate in the stomach, sending him flying even further than Basil's water cannon move. The Space Pirate was sent flying high in the air before flying towards the ground with a sickening crunch to the front of the head, where it instantly died.

Basil grinned at the sight of that. "Now that's what I call spring cleaning."

When those Space Pirates were cleared, Armand turned to Alyson and Spade. "Are you two all right?"

"We're fine. But who are you?" Spade asked him.

"I think we'll get to introductions later. Do you know where Sonic is?" Armand questioned.

"Sonic the Hedgehog?" Alyson wondered. "Well...we saw him earlier. But we don't know where he is now."

"Hmm..." Armand hummed as he crossed his arms. "That's strange. He called me here earlier. Did he leave the city?"

"Knowing about what's been going on, I think that's what he did." Basil thought.

"Hey, Armand!"

Armand and the others turned to see where the voice came from. Sonic the Hedgehog and Knuckles the Echidna came rushing towards him, as if he was expecting him.

"Sonic!" Armand noticed him as he and Sonic shook hands once they met face to face.

"Hey there, Armand! Long time no see!" Sonic smirked.

"You too. It's been a while." Armand nodded with a smile. "And you too, Knuckles."

"Right back at ya." Knuckles replied with a small smile of his own.

"Could someone please explain what's going on here? And what's with all these strange aliens running around the place?" Axel asked, obviously confused by all this.

"I think we'll explain that later. We still need to find Louise, Larcen, and Kera. They're still here." Sonic said.

"There you are!" A female voice called out.

Everyone turned to see three more familiar figures coming towards them. Sonic and Knuckles were relieved when they saw it was Louise Harmon, Larcen the Hedgehog, and Kera the Hedgehog.

"We've finally found you guys!" Kera panted.

"Well that's a coincidence. We were looking for you, too." Knuckles replied.

"OK, you've lost me. What the heck is going on here?" Spade questioned.

"I think that's a question for later. Now that we're all here, we need to get out of here." Sonic noted.

"Come to Rio Salaz." Louise suggested. "You can stay with us."

"Sounds good." Sonic nodded. "Lead the way."

* * *

At the castle, we see Princess Elise looking over the city from her balcony. She knew that what she was seeing was a horrible sight. Space Pirates have engulfed the city of Soleanna, the once beautiful city in the world, which has now been infested like a virus. It was horrendous to look at. Even though it was horrible, she did not let her emotions get to her. It was a promise from her father before he died from the Solaris Project over ten years ago.

"Isn't it a wonderful sight, Princess Elise?" A robotic female voice asked. "See how this precious city of yours is now under my control. And once everything is in place, the entire world shall fall to the hands of Meta-Ridley and Dr. Eggman."

Elise turned her eyes around to see this figure in question that spoke. She wore a helmet that was similar to Vi-Zera's. However, her mask was still different. The mask was almost shaped like a heart, and had three spikes pointed upwards from each side, as the mask itself was crimson colored and the visor was colored light blue. She wore a long black cape, black gloves with white cloths sticking out from the wrists, light purple armor all over her chest, black silky pants, and black heels on her feet.

"It almost seems tragic to see your city turn out like this. I should feel ashamed of myself." The female said, pretending to sound sorry. "But unfortunately for you, I don't hold that kind of compassion."

Elise narrowed her eyes at her. "Who are you? And what do you want with Soleanna?"

"Well, since you asked..." The female reached for her helmet and pulled it off, revealing her face. She had curly blond hair, purple eyes, and purple lipstick. "My name is Luthemia. I am one of the leading Space Pirate Commanders, and I am now the new ruler of Soleanna. With this city under my control, Organization Fusion: The New World shall rise, and give birth to a world where Space Pirates and robots shall rule all! And there is no one who can stop my masters from accomplishing this goal!"

Elise stood her ground, despite hearing this kind of news from one of the Space Pirate Commanders. "It doesn't matter what you are planning. I know a group of heroes that has stopped this kind of threat before. And even I know that you can't stop them from ruining your plans of world conquest."

Luthemia chuckled slightly at her words. "I'm afraid that you are wrong there. You see, we have already conquered other familiar territories. Each one of them is controlled by the Space Pirates, and we have only just begun. Once the announcement has been made, we shall mark our place, and everyone will be put on notice."

The woman slowly walked towards Elise, as the princess began to retreat backwards. However, she was stopped by the railing of the balcony. Then, in a swift motion, Luthemia pulled out a brightly colored sword and pointed it right at Elise's neck with one hand at the hilt.

"Now Princess, you will cooperate and be taken in as my prisoner. Do this, and your city won't be destroyed. Or..." Luthemia smirked really darkly. "Not only will I destroy your city, I will slice your neck in half and watch as your blood pours out from your dead body!"

Luthemia laughed insanely as Elise was put in a really tight position. If she cooperated, then no harm will be done to Soleanna. If not, then...well, she didn't really want to think about that. It almost as seemed hope was lost. However, she knew better than that. She knew heroes that had saved the world countless times before. She would never give up hope. Not one bit of it.

* * *

The final scene shifts towards the abadoned castle, where we see Eve the Cat and Rothion the Owl waiting outside the room where Saladan was going to form up some kind of being that would help them out. But the question is, who was it?

Eve was getting impatient. "We've been waiting for an hour. How long is it going to take? I'm getting really bored."

"As long as it takes." Rothion replied with his arms crossed. "This Saladan character says that he can form up some kind of being by combining the Master Emerald's power along with his dark magic."

"Oh yeah?" Eve raised an eyebrow. "What if it's just all a trick? What if this Saladan guy is trying to manipulate us? What if he is trying to gain our trust so that he can stab us in the back and take the Chaos Emeralds for himself?"

"I have a better question. Why do you always complain?" Rothion questioned. "Surely he couldn't plan all that by himself."

"Mephiles got away with it. What about Black Doom? The answer is pretty obvious to me." Eve pointed out.

"Don't mention him!" Rothion scolded, referring to Black Doom. "Let's just keep our wits together. I'm sure Saladan knows what he is doing."

"Fine." Eve said. "But don't say I didn't warn you."

Suddenly, the door opened itself, revealing it to be Saldan the Tiger. "Come in, you two. I am finished."

Rothion and Eve looked at each other for a moment before walking inside the room with Saladan. A different change to the room was that it was filled with smoke that covered the entire ground, which was very strange for some reason.

"I feel like I'm at a graveyard." Eve muttered. "What's this suppose to be about?"

The three of them continued walking until they passed the Master Emerald before stopping. Saladan walked a couple of steps forward.

"I have brought them. They wish to ask you a favor." Saladan said.

A new figure suddenly started to walk out from the shadows of the throne, revealing itself in the flesh. The first thing you will notice is the exposed muscles all over it's body, metallic exoskeleton, a red visor with metal surrounding it, and tubes carrying fluid all over it's body. And the most noticeable thing was that it was carrying a long metal staff with the letter Z at the top of it.

Rothion smirked at the sight of this. Clearly, this guy looked a lot more threatening than usual. Maybe even more than the Space Pirates. "Greetings, my friend. I am Rothion the Owl! A loyal servant and willing to serve you anyway I can."

Eve also looked impressed by this guy, whoever it was. "I am Eve. A model from France. My looks are just for show, however, get on my bad side of fashion and I will get really angry."

"And if I may ask, what is your name?" Rothion asked, anxiously.

The figure spoke with a loud rough voice. "I am the ruler of a dimension known as the Outer World! I am also known as Lord Zedd!" He stared at the owl. "What is it you desire from me?"

* * *

**Alliances have been made from both sides. What will the fate of Soleanna be in under the Space Pirates control? Will the heroes gather together and explain what's been going on? And will Lord Zedd make an impact in this war? Find out on the next Dawn, Darkness, and War!**

**Please, read and review.**

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I would like to take this time and say to go check out Sonic Rush: The Next Generation by Babylon Sky Hawk. It feels like he isn't getting enough attention with his story, so I really urge you to check it out. It's a story you won't regret reading!


	9. Bittersweet Truth

**DAWN, DARKNESS, AND WAR**

OC's © Respective Owners

Chapter Eight: Bittersweet Truth

**- Rio Salaz -**

The scene shifts towards the Saloon at Rio Salaz. After a very harsh battle against the Morbids, Viola took Samson back inside the Saloon to treat his wounds. Samson had recovered from his unconscious state as he was sitting on a chair while Viola did her best to treat him without using Healing Sacrifice.

Viola wrapped a small bandanna across his torso to help him treat his injury he suffered earlier. "There you go. That should help, a little."

"Thank you, Viola." Samson replied with relief. "For a moment, I thought I was done for."

"Yeah. But..." Viola lowered her eyes. "I'm worried about Marisa. She was taken by that monster: Mephiles. I'm really worried about what will happen when Louise and Larcen find out about this. I...I don't know if I have the courage to tell them about it."

Samson also felt bad for not being able to protect Marisa while they were fighting the Morbids. "I know how you feel. However, they have to know about it. Hiding the truth won't help anything."

"I know your right, Samson." Viola admitted. "But still...I'm worried about it."

Samson knew that it was going to be hard, too. Though it had to be done, otherwise, how would they be able to find Marisa?

The two birds then heard footsteps coming from outside of the Saloon. They were able to see it was Louise, Larcen, and Kera. But they weren't the only ones that they saw. There was a whole different group that they were able to recognize. Samson and Viola wondered what this was all about as Louise, Larcen, Kera, entered the Saloon with the others that were Sonic, Knuckles, Strike, Aqua, Armand, Basil, Axel, Alyson, and Spade.

"What's with the large group? Did you invite them all as customers?" Samson asked.

"Not exactly." Louise shook her head. "You see, we ran into a little...problem."

"Why don't you just tell him the truth?" Knuckles told her with his arms crossed.

Louise knew that Knuckles was right and decides to tell him. "We went to Soleanna to look for birthday decorations and gifts for Marisa's birthday. On the way, we met up with Sonic. We told him about it and he wanted to help out, as well, so we agreed and he went to get the decorations while we focused on the gifts. And then...something I never saw coming, happened.

"What happened?" Viola wondered, a little curious.

"Hmm...how to explain about this..." Louise was trying to think of a way to tell Samson about what happened.

"I think I know how to explain it." Larcen said, as everyone paid attention to him. "Do you remember the invasion of Black Arms of Soleanna that happened a year ago? Well, think of that. Only this army is a lot bigger in numbers and stronger, too."

"Yeah. Those aliens put a fight I had never thought possible." Kera said, still feeling the effects from her battle against the Space Pirates.

"And just to top it all off, it's led by Dr. Eggman." Larcen stated.

"Add in Meta-Ridley, as well." Strike added.

"Meta-Ridley?" Sonic raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"When me and Aqua were in Future City, the same thing happened there. Those aliens popped out of a large ship and began spreading out all over the city. On top of the ship, a large dragon was on top of it all, roaring in the skys as if it was commanding all of those aliens." Strike explained.

"Wait a minute!" Knuckles stopped him. "This isn't the only time this has happened."

"I think that's kind of old news, Knuckles." Sonic retorted.

"Oh yeah?" Knuckles asked. "Think about it. First, these aliens attack and take over G.U.N. Headquarters. Then they do the same thing with Future City and Soleanna. Why is that?"

"Hmm..." Sonic pondered. "Oh! Do you think it relates to what Rouge said?"

"You're getting there." Knuckles nodded. "She told us about one of their commanders: Vi-Zera. He said that this group called Organization Fusion: The New World will be reborn into something new."

"Hold on." Spade stopped him. "What are you talking about? What do you mean by the world be reborn into something different?"

"I don't know." Knuckles answered. "But I do know that there might be a reason as to why these Space Pirates are seeking control over a major city."

"Space Pirates?" Kera wondered about this for a second. "Oh, I get it! That's what those things are called."

"That doesn't matter." Knuckles said. "If my theory is correct, and that this Organization Fusion between Eggman and that dragon is working together, then this could mean that they may indeed have a reason behind their takeovers."

"Hmm..." Armand thought about it. "I have to admit, it does sound like your logic is right. However, we can't be for sure until we find out the truth for ourselves."

"Like I said, it's only a theory. But for now, it's the only one that makes any sense." Knuckles said.

"So is that the reason why you guys are all here?" Samson questioned.

"Yes." Alyson replied with a nod. However, her frown was still there. "But Yublein..." She covered her eyes and sobbed at the fact that she wasn't at his side.

"Yublein? You mean that large dinosaur? What happened to him?" Viola asked.

"When we were trying to escape the city, Alyson had tripped on her knees and hurt herself pretty badly. Fearing that those aliens would catch up to us, Yublein decided to go back and buy us some time to get out of there." Spade explained. "Though we had to leave him behind...and I don't know if he made it out alive or if he's dead."

"Don't say that!" Alyson shouted out loud, starting to grow teary eyed. "Don't say that he could be...dead. It just can't happen to him!" Her eyes swelled up heavily, as she couldn't take any more of it. Alyson ran outside, leaving the others behind.

"Alyson, wait!" Spade called out, but was of no use as Alyson was already gone. The pterodactyl sighed, almost feeling hopeless for his friend. "Man, this day isn't getting any better."

Aqua could feel how sorry she was for Alyson. "I feel really sorry about her. It's just like what happened to Kyla..."

This caught most of our heroes attention, especially Louise. "Kyla? What about her?"

The light-blue hedgehog turned towards the Sage. "There was something else we didn't tell you what happen while we were at Future City." It almost pained her to say it, but she had no choice in the matter. "W-We went to visit Kyla, but as you know, those Space Pirates began to spread out across the city. Me, Strike, and Kyla were fighting them off, but then a G.U.N. soldier came by and...he...he kidnapped Kyla."

Our heroes eyes widened at this confession. "Did you find out why?" Kera asked.

"No. By the time, we turned around, that soldier took off with Kyla and took her away." She lowered her head in sadness. "We couldn't save her in time. And we don't know where to find her, either." Aqua slowly said.

Louise didn't know how to react. Kyla was taken by a G.U.N. soldier? Something about that statement didn't seem right. "Are you sure you don't know where she is?"

"I'm sorry, Louise. But I don't know where she is." Aqua answered sadly. "I'm sorry I don't have an answer for you."

Louise felt saddened by this, but did her best to keep a straight face. "It's OK, Aqua. Even if we don't know where she is, we'll find her. I promise you that."

Aqua smiled a little, which gave her some hope. "Thank you, Louise."

"It's no problem." Louise smiled at her. "We just have to find a way to locate her. Once Marisa wakes up, she'll have to know about this as well."

"I'll check go on her, just to see if she's awake yet." Larcen said, as he passed by Samson, who lowered his hat to cover his eyes.

"You don't need to do that, amigo." Samson replied.

Larcen stopped himself and raised an eyebrow. "Why do you say that?"

"Viola? You want to tell them?" Samson asked her.

Viola gulped nervously. "M-Monsters came by and...they kidnapped Marisa!"

Louise's heart nearly stopped, while Larcen had the same reaction as her.

"What...what did you say?" Larcen asked, like if time had frozen over him.

"Monsters? What kind of monsters? And what did they want with Marisa?" Louise asked, desperately wanting to know what happened to her daughter.

"Well...I don't know how to describe them." Samson replied. "However, they were called Morbids. And the one controlling them was that druid: Xuan."

"Xuan?" Kera raised an eyebrow. "You mean that druid? He was there?"

"Yes. But...he wasn't the only one. There was one more person and..." Samson paused, now starting to feel uneasy to himself. "This monster, as I would call him, is behind Marisa's abduction."

"Him? Who's him?" Larcen questioned.

Viola was very hesitant with her response. "M-Mephiles...It was Mephiles."

Our heroes were deeply stunned and horrified at the same time when she spoke those words, save for Spade, who had no idea who Mephiles was.

"Mephiles?" Sonic asked.

"No..." Louise shook her head, trying to deny it. "No...that...that can't be right! He was killed...back when Sonic and his friends destroyed him as that three-headed dragon! There's no way he could've survived!"

"I'm sorry, Louise..." Viola apologized slowly. "But we did see Mephiles there with Xuan. It seemed like they were working together."

"How...can that be?" Larcen asked. "There were no signs of him after that dragon was defeated! How could've he survived that?"

"I don't know about you, but knowing Mephiles, I'm sure that he had found a way to restore himself." Knuckles thought. "I just don't know how he did, though."

"Um...who is this Mephiles character you mention?" Spade asked, wondering what the group was talking about.

"It's kind of a long story..." Sonic slowly replied. "We can tell you later."

"Right." Knuckles nodded. "Right now, though, we need to find out where they have taken her. The only question is, where do we begin?"

Everyone thought about it with silence, was thoughts began running through their minds. How would they be able to find Marisa, if they don't know where to start looking? We could see Armand, Basil, and Axel huddling together, while the others thought about it by themselves.

Minutes passed, as Team Berserker broke up their huddle. "Actually, I think I have an idea." Armand thought.

"What kind of idea?" Sonic wondered.

"I have been discussing it with Basil and Axel, and we decided that we are going to search for Marisa's whereabouts." Armand replied.

"By yourselves?" Kera wondered.

"Well...yes." Basil slowly replied. "At least, in theory."

"What do you mean by that?" Larcen wondered.

"We know some people that might be able to help us, as well. And they're even people that you know of." Axel told them.

"Really?" Kera asked. "Who is it, then?"

"Sorry, but we're keeping that a secret." Basil replied. "We don't want to spoil you too much."

"Do...do you think you can find her?" Louise asked anxiously.

"I promise you, Louise." Armand replied. "We'll find your daughter and reunite her with you."

Louise almost felt a sigh of relief flow through her. "Oh, thank you, Armand."

"It's no problem." Armand smiled. "We're just happy to help out."

"Well, at least that's settled. I'm going to find Alyson and see if I can apologize to her about what I said." Spade said, as he left the Saloon to search for Alyson.

Knuckles was also making his way outside, much to Sonic's confusion. "Where are you going, Knuckles?"

"I'm going to find my Master Emerald. Rothion and Eve still have it, and I still have a score to settle with them." Knuckles replied. "And until I find it, cancel my invitation. Later." He said, as he left the others behind.

When Knuckles left, Strike and Aqua looked at each other for a moment, as if they both had the same thing on their minds.

"We better go, too. We still need to find Kyla and find out where she's been taken." Strike said.

"He's right. I'm sorry we can't stay longer, but this is something we have to take care of." Aqua told them.

"Hey, we understand." Sonic replied with a smile. "And besides, you're doing the right thing. Just be careful."

"We will." Aqua smiled. "See you later." She and Strike waved at them before leaving the Saloon, as well.

When they were gone, Louise fell silent and had a straight face. Kera looked up to see if she was all right.

"Louise? Are you OK?" Kera asked her.

"I'm all right. I just need to be alone for a while." She slowly said, as she made her way upstairs towards her room.

Kera watched Louise until she was gone. Larcen was also by himself, sitting on a stool and facing the bar table. From what Kera could tell, it looked like Larcen was in a different, but silent world. It was as if it was he was all alone, without his best friend beside him. His expressions didn't change, but she could tell that Larcen is also upset, and possibly angry, about Marisa's kidnapping. Kera knew Larcen for a long time, but not anyone better than Marisa. Perhaps it was better to leave Larcen by himself for a while until he had calmed down. At least, that's what she had hoped.

Sonic decided that he would leave too. "I'm outta here for now."

Kera turned to Sonic. "Where are you going?"

"I'm heading back to the Mystic Ruins and let Tails in on what just happened. Maybe he might have an idea on what to do about the Space Pirate invasions." Sonic said, as he left the decorations behind. "See ya, later!" He waved before dashing out of Rio Salaz within a split second.

"Later..." Kera waved back, even though Sonic was already gone before he could hear it. Though the real reason was that she didn't really have a lot of enthusiasm in her voice, and that was because she herself was feeling bad about the situations that had occurred.

"You seem to be a little down, senorita Kera." Samson noticed. "Are you all right?"

"Not really." Kera shook her head. "I just can't believe all of this stuff is happening. It feels like some horrible nightmare gone totally wrong."

"How about I make you some water? Will that help any?" Samson asked her.

"Sure...I would like that." The purple hedgehog slowly nodded.

"Good. You want to join, my love?" Samson asked her.

"I guess so." Viola nodded as well.

"All right. I'll be back with it in a minute!" Samson said, as he prepared the cups of water for the two girls.

* * *

Louise was looking at a photo album, examining all of the photos she had with Marisa and herself. Most of them were at the time Marisa was young before she had left her for unknown reasons. She occasionally flipped each page to see more pictures of Marisa over the years where she was growing up, which made Louise both very happy and sad at same time. The moment she reunited with her one year ago was the happiest thing in Marisa's life, but the sad thing was that she missed out a lot on it too.

And now, this fiasco had happened. The evil creature who had almost conquered all of the dimensions one year ago, has returned. And because of this, Marisa was abducted by him. Why? Why would he do this? Was it because of one year ago? Or was it because of his hatred for her? Was this revenge on how to get back at Louise by taking away the one person who always made her happy?

A tear started to form in her eye as it slowly rolled down her cheek. The tear soon dropped on one of the pictures of Marisa. Louise's eyes started narrow as she threw the photo album across the room as it slammed against a wall. She slammed her fist against a wall, as her emotions drove her out of control. She screamed as she held her head, yelling out in anger and suffering. She started to throw anything that was near her and tossed it out of the way. When she couldn't do that anymore, she slammed her fist one more time with full force. She then slipped to the ground by the wall as she covered her face in tears, finally at her breaking point.

"I should've never left Marisa behind. Then nothing like this would've happened. I would've been here to protect her, even if I had known Mephiles did return." Louise said, obviously blaming herself for all that's happened. "I am such a fool...I'm so fucking stupid to let this happen." Hearing that word coming out of Louise, was never to be expected from someone who looked very gentle and kind. "Don't worry, Marisa. We're going to find you...I know you will be OK. Just stay strong. And don't give up hope. Ever."

* * *

**- Chaotix Headquarters -**

The scene shifts towards the Chaotix Headquarters. It had been over a few months since the detective agency had received their reward after teaming up with Samus Aran, famous bounty hunter. Since then, they had used their reward on what you could expect.

Inside the main office, we could see the Chaotix all in the same room together. Vector had a new set of headphones and was listening to rock music, which turned out to be their theme song. Espio has used some of it to by new ninja weapons, mainly chakrams. And Charmy pretty much used some of it to buy video games and a new disco ball. Well, Vector told him to buy that because he wanted to the room to be added with more flashy light style to their headquarters.

Right now, Charmy was playing video games with the TV screen on on high volume, much to Espio's irritation.

"Would you turn it down, Charmy? The sound is almost hurting my ears!" Espio shouted a little.

"But Espio, I'm on this freakishly awesome boss battle. I need the music to help motivate me!" Charmy answered, while staring at the screen and pressing buttons on his controller."

"Well, this music is not helping me meditating! Please turn it down!" Espio called out again.

"Relax, Espio." Vector said with a smirk. "Charmy is just learning something new. And with music, you could definitely learn something."

"Like how to annoy others that are trying to meditate quietly to themselves..." Espio muttered to himself.

Charmy continued to press buttons on his controller, trying to defeat an enemy boss. "Come on! I almost got it..." Then his eyes widened when he saw a situation he was in. "No, no, no...Aw, nuts!" He had been defeated by the boss, and accidentally pressed a button on the remote that was next to him, switching it to a different channel, featuring a woman with a microphone standing in front of a camera.

_"This is Joanna Garcia reporting live outside of Future City, where the scene of a horrible invasion has occurred here."_

This caught the attention of Vector the Crocodile. "Turn it up, Charmy!"

"OK." Charmy shrugged, as he turned the volume up even more so the news reporter could speak.

_"Exactly one hour ago, a large flying ship came hovering above the futuristic site of Future City. Aliens had dropped down and spread themselves across the city, forcing people to evacuate, while the aliens have taken control of every portion of Future City. As you can see, the city is fully under control by these creatures. The Future City police have tried to drive off the creatures, but they were no match and were all killed as a result. There is also rumor that Soleanna has suffered the same fate, as well. Who are these creatures and where did they come from? Are they related to the black creatures from a couple of years ago? We will try and give you any further updates when we can. Reporting live from Future City, I'm Joanna Garcia for Station Square News."_

Charmy switched off the TV after hearing the news report. "Well, that's a real downer! Aliens invading other cities? The only ones that did that were the Black Arms?"

"Yeah. I mean, what aliens do we know look like that?" Vector asked with his arms crossed.

Silence filled the room for a moment as something dawned over the Chaotix. "Space Pirates!"

"But I thought we beat those guys up back at Prison Island!" Charmy thought.

"Yeah. And add the fact that Meta Ridley was destroyed, thanks to Samus." Vector added. "Right, guys?"

"I'm not so sure about that..." Espio said.

"What do you mean, Espio?" Charmy asked.

"It's probably just a thought, but what if Meta Ridley survived and was able to build all of these Space Pirates? As Samus said before, the Space Pirates have technology far beyond anyone has seen before." Espio pointed out. "Plus, it's only been half a year, so it probably could've used that time to spawn more Space Pirates."

"Hmm...you could be on to something, Espio." Vector rubbed his chin.

"But wait!" Charmy shouted out. "That dragon was still on that island when we left it behind. Plus, there really wasn't anything there after that temple was crushed down to sizes!"

"Yeah!" Vector nodded. "Plus, his wings were destroyed as well! Only a genius would know how to fix wings like those."

Espio raised an eyebrow. "Did you say genius?"

"Uh...what about it?" Vector asked, confused. That's when it occurred to him. "Eggman!"

"What? That mean old doctor is involved in this, too?" Charmy wondered.

"It's a possibility." Espio said. "We don't know until we gather more information about what's going on."

"Right!" Vector nodded. "Boys, we have a new case on our hands! Let's go! To Future City!"

"Yes, sir!" Charmy saluted with a laugh.

"Roger." Espio nodded.

The three headed for the door. However, Vector stopped himself and looked back at his desk. He went over to it and opened one of the drawers. He pulled out something in his hand and smiled.

"This could really come in handy." Vector said to himself, as he placed the object in an unknown pocket of his and headed towards the door to rejoin with the others.

* * *

**The flow of hidden truths will reveal itself when you least expect it. Will Team Guardians be able to track down Mephiles' whereabouts and find Marisa? Can Louise keep her emotions under control? And what did Vector take with him for this important case? Find out on the next Dawn, Darkness, and War!**

**Please, read and review.**


	10. Friends or Enemies?

**DAWN, DARKNESS, AND WAR**

Strike, Aqua, and Eve © The Brawler  
Metroid © Nintendo  
Lord Zedd © Saban Entertainment

Chapter Nine: Friends or Enemies?

**- G.U.N. Headquarters -**

Ash Mustang quietly crawled through the darkness of the air vents. Getting through the outside of the base to the inside of the base was no easy feat, seeing as how it was infested by Space Pirates a few numbers of hours ago. He would occasionally find vent holders and look through the holes to see what was going on from below, like Space Pirate Troopers patrolling around the base to keep it secure. Ash was very careful in making sure that he wasn't detected by them.

_"Getting past security was difficult enough. Now I have to find out what exactly these aliens are doing here." _Ash said to himself. It had seemed like a good enough plan for what it was.

He continued to crawl quietly through, examining any certain detail he could find. Speculation was also important, too. Even if he couldn't figure out what the Space Pirates were planning. Another mission was for him to find anyone that was being held a prisoner within the base and see if he could release them and get them out safely. Upon crawling through the vent, he noticed a new vent holder several feet ahead. He went towards and looked through the holes to peeked at what he could see from above.

He could see the jail cells that the unarmed G.U.N. soldiers were being held at. Including the G.U.N. Commander, whom had been locked up a number of hours ago ever since the invasion happened.

Ash looked around from top, and luckily for him, he didn't see any Space Pirates standing guard near the cells. He looked at the vent holder in front of him to see if it was able to move. As it turned out, it was movable. So carefully, he placed his gloved hands on the side of the rims and slowly moved it away from him. Once that was out of the way, he carefully slipped his own body down the hole and dropped down to the ground, looking around to double-check his surroundings.

The G.U.N. Commander, including the imprisoned G.U.N. soldiers, were surprised to see someone that wasn't a Space Pirate.

"There's someone there, sir." A G.U.N. soldier pointed out. "But who is it?"

Ash turned to see the imprisoned G.U.N. soldiers and the G.U.N. Commander. "Commander! At last, I've found you."

"Who are you? You're not working for the Space Pirates, are you?" The G.U.N. Commander questioned.

"No, sir." Ash shook his head. "I'm Lieutenant Ash Mustang of the Police Force in Future City. And I'm here to get you out of here."

"Mustang?" Somehow, the G.U.N. Commander had heard that name before. "I remember...you were assigned to Lieutenant at the age of 16 only two months ago. That's pretty quick to reach that level."

"Yes, sir. You are right." Ash, the young man, nodded.

"While I can confirm you aren't a part of these aliens, how did you manage to get all the way here?" The G.U.N. Commander questioned.

"I was able to use the ventilation shaft to get from the entrance of the base to get all the way here." Ash answered. "Luckily, the security systems weren't working when I was crawling through, which is why I was able to get here undetected."

"Hmm...they must've destroyed the security systems when they invaded our base a few hours ago." The G.U.N. Commander thought.

"Then that must mean they haven't figured out I'm here yet." Ash said. "In that case, stand still." He approached the cell door. "I'm going to burn down this lock."

"Well, well, it looks like we have an unwanted guest." A familiar voice said.

The voice caught Ash's attention as he turned to see Zed Goodwin, in his usual trench coat, along with two Space Pirate Troopers at his side. Ash recognized Zed easily.

"Zed Goodwin! I remember you. You were behind that scandal at the World Tennis Tournament!" Ash said.

"I've heard that story before." Zed replied with a calm smile. "It's old news. Why don't you tell me something I don't know?"

Ash noticed the two Space Pirates at his side. "So, you've not only escaped, but also joined up with the Space Pirates, as well?"

"Naturally, yes." Zed answered. "The Space Pirate Commander offered me a position I couldn't refuse. It was the only way to keep my life intact." He looked at Ash amusingly. "If I'm not mistaken, you're Ash Mustang, are you not?"

Ash was surprised to hear this. "How do you know about me?"

"I hear rumors from other soldiers here. How you were able to get the position of Lieutenant of the Police Force in Future City. I have to admit, that's pretty impressive." Zed remarked. "I also heard that you have the powers of the Flame Phoenix: Neros.

Ash widened his eyes. "What...are you talking about?"

"Don't you know? You and I are both the same, in a way. We both have the powers of the legendary Mystic creatures. Myself as the eel, and yourself the phoenix." Zed pointed out. "And now that I think about it, we both are different in many ways. And I'm not talking about our physical appearance, mind you."

"What is he talking about, Mustang?" The G.U.N. Commander asked.

Ash gritted his teeth, just about almost having enough of Zed's words. Just then, a thought occurred to Ash. "Wait a minute. Two hedgehogs told me that a G.U.N. soldier had reportedly kidnapped a girl named Kyla Vonstar." He glared at Zed. "Was that you, too? Dressing up to pretend to be a G.U.N. soldier?"

Zed seemed convince that this guy knew a lot about what happened recently. "Very well. If you must know, then yes. However, I had my reasons for pulling it off."

"What reasons?" Ash questioned.

Zed, to himself, seemed reluctant. "I cannot reveal them to you. Why, you may ask? Well, let's just say that this isn't a good time or place to tell you that."

Ash seemed a little irritated that Zed wouldn't talk out why he did for what he did. Suddenly, the alarm went off, much to everyone, including Zed's surprise.

"What the hell? What's going on?" Zed questioned, not sure of what's happening.

_Intruder Alert! Security Breach at Level One! I repeat: Security Breach at Level One!_

Zed scoffed at this. "Check it out! Hunt down whoever's broken in and kill them!"

The two Space Pirates turned around and quickly dashed off to find out what caused the alarm to go off. When they were gone, he turned his attention back to Ash.

"It seems like things aren't in your favor at the moment." Ash replied with a small smile.

However, and much to Ash's surprise, Zed just smirked. "Actually, this helps me a lot."

"Huh?" Ash was confused. "What do you mean?"

"I told you there was a reason why I needed to gain the Space Pirates favor in order to let me join them. Well, to be truthful, I'm not interested in their goals one bit. I'm here to get Kyla out of this place. She's mine, and no one else will have her!" He turned around, and dashed off.

"Wait!" Ash called out, but Zed was already gone. There goes a chance to actually get some answers out of him.

"Mustang, get us out of here!" The G.U.N. Commander said, getting the young man's attention. "While the alien creatures are distracted, we can manage to buy time for our escapes!"

"R-Right, sir." Ash nodded, as he wasted no time in getting to work on burning down the lock by the firey sparks from his glove.

* * *

Outside of the entrance of G.U.N. Headquarters, the Space Pirates were engaging battle against familiar looking druids. There was also Lord Zedd, whom seemed to be in command, as Rothion and Saladan were also fighting against the Space Pirates, and managing to take some of them out.

Lord Zedd laughed at the sight of this. "It's great to be back in action again!"

"Indeed!" Rothion replied, as he used his axe to slice at a Space Pirate's torso, making the Space Pirate collapse to the ground, dead seconds later. "These Space Pirates took the bait. And with Eve infiltrating inside the base, we should be able to collect that Chaos Emerald in no time."

"We have to buy her time." Saladan said, cutting down another Space Pirate with his scythe. "According to the Master Emerald's energy readings, it leads itself here. There is a strong energy source coming from inside of G.U.N. Headquarters."

"Then we must make haste." Zedd said. "Once Eve manages to snag the Chaos Emerald, we shall make our departure and find the other six Chaos Emeralds."

Saladan dodged a few laser bullets from one of the Space Pirates as his scythe glowed with a dark aura, releasing a dark crest wave back at the Space Pirate, taking it down to the ground. "How long will it be for Eve to accomplish her mission?"

"It shouldn't take her long." Rothion replied. "The last we were here, she managed to steal the Chaos Emerald from the eyes of those pathetic G.U.N. soldiers. Not even the Sonic heroes or Sailor Scouts could manage to stop us." He laughed insanely.

"Well, we can't hold out forever." Saladan replied. "The Space Pirates just keep coming. She'll have to hurry if we're to make any progress."

* * *

Inside the lab of G.U.N. Headquarters, we could see Eve crawling inside a different ventilation shaft, as she managed to find her way towards the lab, where we could see two Space Pirate scientists inside working on something that was on the table, making Eve unsure of what was going on. She pulled out the Master Emerald that she had taken with her earlier to see that it was glowing brightly, much to Eve's pleasure.

"Excellent. The Master Emerald is detecting strong energy coming from this room." Eve said to herself. "And if the Chaos Emerald is in here, then I'm in luck." She grinned darkly. "Now to have a little fun for myself."

She waited as one of the Space Pirates got near her position. When it was close, Eve started to dematerialize herself until she was no longer visible. The Space Pirate's eyes started to change as it growled lowly, catching the other Space Pirate's attention. This must've been the work of Eve's mind killing powers.

The Space Pirate snapped it's head at the other Space Pirate, leaped at it with one jump and impaled it with it's sword arm, making the impaled Space Pirate screech in pain before slowly dying on it's own. The possessed Space Pirate pulled out it's sword-arm, making the other Space Pirate limp to the ground. It then impaled itself with it's own weapon, making it screech in pain as it fell to the ground, dying seconds later.

Eve then materialized herself, making herself visible again. "While it was short-lived, I suppose I shouldn't be wasting my time. Now to collect the Chaos Emerald." She looked up at the table and saw something shiny. A jewel which turned out to be a green Chaos Emerald, much to Eve's delight.

She picked up the Chaos Emerald in her hands, smiling all the way. However, something else caught her eye. She saw a peculiar piece of sketch paper. What she saw shocked her. On the sketch paper, there were two drawings of Kyla Vonstar. She seethed in rage.

"Why the hell do these Space Pirates want with that bitch?" Eve asked. Not wanting to look at it any longer, she tore the paper to shreds and scattered it all over the floor. "I could care less. That stupid bitch deserves to die for all I care!" She turned her attention back to the Chaos Emerald in her hand, along with the Master Emerald in the other hand. "All I care about are these beautiful jewels. Now I better report to the others before they get suspicious." She pulled out a black rose and placed it on the desk before putting the emeralds in an unknown pocket of hers and returning to the ventilation shaft.

* * *

Ash Mustang had managed to burn the lock down, and managed to release the soldiers. He intructs them to make their way out of the base by the ventilation shaft he had crawled through earlier.

All of the soldiers were up in in the ventilation shaft, save for the G.U.N. Commander.

"Aren't you coming with us?" The G.U.N. Commander asked.

"Yes, sir. As soon as you get up there, I'll be right behind you." Ash replied.

As Ash was about to get the G.U.N. Commander up with the others, two Space Pirates jumped down from the ground, taking Ash and the G.U.N. Commander by surprise.

"Damn! More Space Pirates. It looks like they don't want us to get out of here alive." The G.U.N. Commander said.

Ash narrowed his eyes at the two Space Pirates that looked ready to attack. Suddenly, a jolt of lightning striked at one of the Space Pirate's back, sending it flying face forwards to the ground.

The other Space Pirate turned around, but only to receive another lightning strike to it's chest, making it fall to it's back, paralyzed by the electrical attack.

Ash and the G.U.N. Commander looked to see Strike and Aqua coming to the aid of their friend, while riding on their boards.

"Strike! Aqua!" Ash exclaimed. "What are you two doing here?"

"We came back to help you. And it looks like we weren't too late." Strike said.

"Have you been able to figure out where Kyla is?" Aqua asked him.

"I don't know exactly, but the G.U.N. soldier you were talking about came here." Ash replied.

Aqua's eyes widened. "Then Kyla must be here! I have to find her!"

"Wait!" Ash called out. "There's more."

"More?" Strike wondered.

"That G.U.N. soldier you supposedly ran into, it turns out that the one wearing that uniform was really Zed Goodwin." Ash replied.

Strike and Aqua's eyes widened in shock at this news.

"Zed Goodwin?" Strike exclaimed.

"No! It can't be! Why him...?" Aqua asked, making sure that she wasn't hearing things.

"I don't know why. He wouldn't give out any answers. However, he said that he had no interest in the Space Pirates goals. That must mean he's working alone." Ash thought.

Aqua grew worried about the situation. Fearing the worst, she turned herself around and boosted away from the group.

"Aqua? Where are you going?" Strike yelled out.

The light-blue hedgehog stopped herself and looked back. "I'm going to find Kyla! We need to get her out of here!" Aqua called back before dashing off by the wind of her board.

"Aqua, wait!" Strike called out, but she was already gone. What was he suppose to do now?

"Go with after her, Strike." Ash told him.

Strike turned to Ash. "But what about you?"

"I'm going to escape with the other G.U.N. soldiers through the ventilation shaft. I'll meet you outside when you are done here. Hurry!"

"Right." Strike nodded, as he turned around and dashed off on his board. He was hoping to find his friend Aqua. And possibly Kyla, as well.

* * *

Aqua was riding through G.U.N. Headquarters, surprisingly not encountering any Space Pirates. They were probably being distracted by the druids outside of the base led by Lord Zedd. Which was a good thing for her, because that way she find Kyla with no Space Pirates in her way. She continued to ride through the base until she spotted the fifth level of the headquarters, which was where the main console of the base was located. Thinking that might be a good place to start looking, Aqua quickly rode her way up.

She had made her way to the top, as the door oppened for Aqua while she rode inside the room.

"Kyla! Where are you-? Huh?" Aqua stopped in mid-sentence when she saw someone something in front of her that made her eyes gleam open.

There was a figure with familiar short blue haired-ponytail, and wearing a small red cape for some reason. Aqua started to smile when she saw the blue hair.

"Kyla! It's you! I'm so glad you're OK! Come on, we need to get out of here before these Space Pirates get to us!" Aqua said to her.

The figure didn't say anything, much to Aqua's confusion.

"Kyla?" Aqua called out. "Are you all right?"

The figure finally turned around, revealing itself to Aqua. The light-blue hedgehog's eyes turned to horror at what she saw. The person did turn out to be Kyla Vonstar, but she was in a different attire. She was wearing black high heels, black shorts, a long black glove with red linings covering her left hand, wearing red armor, and the most unusual thing on her was that cybernetic impalement's were attached to the right side of her neck and cheek.

Aqua's eyes widened in horror at this sight. "Kyla?"

"I...am Starinus. A commander of the Space Pirates of G.U.N. Headquarters." She replied with a cold voice. "Kyla Vonstar no longer exists."

Aqua couldn't believe what she was hearing. "No...what did they do to you?"

"I was in a lab, being experimented by the Space Pirates when I was unconscious. When I woke up, someone named Vi-Zera helped me up on my feet and said that I was born to help the Space Pirates rule over everything that exists. The Space Pirate scientists re-created me and helped me gain a new life out of the old one I used to live with. The old life I had was cold, harsh, and I almost couldn't live myself." She closed her eyes, as if to seemed angered and sad at the same time.

"Wait...what do you mean the Space Pirates 'gave you a new life'?" Aqua asked.

"You didn't know? " Kyla, or rather Starinus, smiled darkly. "The Kyla Vonstar you remembered was killed. After the Space Pirates helped recreate me, they killed off Kyla's real body when she was still unconscious. So as you can see, I have the same look-alikes as Kyla Vonstar, but it's not the real one you use to know."

Aqua's eyes started to tera up. Her head lowered as she collapsed to her knees. "No...no...NO!" She slammed her hand down on the ground, crying over the fact that Kyla was dead. "I can't...this isn't true...I refuse to believe that my friend is dead...I can't...I won't...NO!"

Starinus looked down at the crying Aqua, whom was in traumatizing pain and sadness. "It doesn't matter anyway. I still have the same memories of your dead friend. So in a way, I'm both Kyla and not her at the same time."

"No..." Aqua covered her eyes. "I can't believe Kyla...she...no...I can't..."

"Are you sure about that? Because I can sense some flaws in that mouth of yours."

The two turned their heads to see Zed Goodwin, of all people. Zed had his arms crossed and a smirk on his face.

"You!" Starinus narrowed her eyes at Zed. "Out of all the people who ruined my life, you're the worst out of them all!"

"Really? And why I'm listening to this who supposedly believed that Kyla was killed?" Zed countered.

"You doubt me?" Starinus questioned.

"There's a lot of things I doubt about your reasoning's behind your words. Like, you say Kyla was really killed? Or that maybe the reason why these creatures took you in was because they built a clone android out of the real Kyla and disposed her somewhere else while you took her place." Zed replied.

"You like to talk a lot, don't you?" Starinus asked, not intimidated by his words. "That's one of the reasons why I hated you. You took me in hoping to restore my lost arm, but instead, used it for your own selfish goals. But that's OK. Because now that I thought about it, living with this arm isn't so bad after all. Because now I have a chance to kill you and get my revenge for what you have done to me!"

"Kyla, stop!" Aqua shouted at her. "This isn't like you! I know that the real you is still inside! You just have to stop think about you're doing! Look inside yourself and stop all this!"

Starinus felt a little irritated by this, but kept her calm. "As I have just said, Kyla Vonstar was killed by the other Space Pirates after re-creating me. She's gone forever. I am Starinus now, and I no longer want to hear being called Kyla ever again!"

"Ah, now I see..." Zed said, realizing something.

"What?" Starinus glared at Zed.

"You claim that Kyla is dead, but you're fully admitting that you really are Kyla, but just under a different name." Zed said. "Probably that's because Vi-Zera gave you that new name and had discarded the old name to give you a 'new life', or so he says."

"It doesn't matter what you think." Starinus replied. "What matters is that I can begin my new life as a Space Pirate Commander. And no one is going to change me for who I am!"

Aqua was still in shock over this. Could Kyla really be dead? Or does Zed's words ring in something else, saying that Kyla isn't dead and that this person is really her?

The base door opened, revealing it to be Strike the Hedgehog. "Come on, Aqua! We need to get out of here!"

Aqua turned to see her friend at the door. "But Strike...?"

"Your hedgehog friend is right." Zed said. "We have to move before the Space Pirates their full force on us."

Zed ran out of the room as Aqua looked back one last time at Kyla, or Starinus as she is now, before hopping on her board and following Strike and Zed to the exit.

* * *

Outside of the base, we could still the battle between the Space Pirates and the druids. Lord Zedd, Rothion, and Saladan were still there as they helped out against the Space Pirates until Eve returned with the Chaos Emerald.

Speaking of which, a large bright flash appeared right behind the three villains, revealing it to be Eve the Cat.

"Did you manage to get the Chaos Emerald?" Saladan asked.

"Got it right here." Eve replied with a smirk while holding the green Chaos Emerald in her hand.

"What about the Master Emerald? Is it still safe?" Lord Zedd questioned.

Eve grabbed out the Master Emerald from an unknown pocket of hers and showed it with her other hand. "Safe and sound."

As Rothion held himself back to get himself some air, he noticed something coming out of the base. "Look there!"

The others turned to see Strike, Aqua, and Zed Goodwin making a run for it as they passed by the on-going battle between the Space Pirates and the druids. Lord Zedd seemed to notice them as well.

"Who are those creatures suppose to be?" Lord Zedd questioned.

"I think I've seen them before." Rothion replied. "They're from the World Tennis Tournament!"

"But why are they together?" Eve wondered. "Two of them are clearly helping somebody that almost took over the world some months ago."

"It doesn't matter who they are. The point is that they have the right idea of escaping this place." Saladan pointed out. "Since we already got what we needed, we better make our departure, too."

"Way ahead of you." Eve said, as she raised the Chaos Emerald into the air. "CHAOS CONTROL!"

A bright flash engulfed the villains for a moment before dieing down, and with the villains gone from sight. The druids that were also there had vanished as well, leaving only the Space Pirates.

* * *

The scene shifts back towards the inside of the base. In the main room, we could see Starinus on top of the control center, where she could see the other Space Pirates got to work in repairing any damages that they had received during the attack by the druids that had happened twenty minutes ago.

Just then, Vi-Zera's image appeared on the large screen. "Commander Starinus. Are you feeling all right?"

"I am, thank you." Starinus replied. "However, we ran into some difficulties."

"Give me a status a report. Now." Vi-Zera commanded.

"Yes, sir." Starinus nodded. "There was an attack here that was invaded by a pack of druids. To make matters worse, we had lost the Chaos Emerald in the lab while the invasion went ahead."

"What happened to the Space Pirate scientists that were in charge of the lab?" Vi-Zera questioned.

"It turns out they were both killed by whoever broke into the lab. We don't know who it was, but we did find out that the person got into the lab through the ventilation shaft. Speaking of which, it seems someone more than just the druids came here.

"Who was it?" Vi-Zera asked.

"Two hedgehogs and another human. It seems that they were working together to release the G.U.N. soldiers that were being held prisoner here." Starinus answered.

"And did the Space Pirates manage to stop them?"

Starinus lowered her head. "Unfortunately, they had released all of the G.U.N. soldiers, including their Commander. I'm sorry."

"There is nothing to worry about." Vi-Zera replied. "The G.U.N. soldiers were of no use to me. I cared not about what happened to those G.U.N. soldiers, anyway."

"And also...it seems that Zed Goodwin had betrayed us as well." Starinus added. "He left with the other two hedgehogs."

"I thought Zed was a suspicious termite that needed to be exterminated. I guess I should've done so when I had the chance." Vi-Zera said, partly blaming himself for not killing off Zed. "What about the Space Pirates soldiers? What are the conditions on them?"

"A small majority of them were killed. And some others have been injured. The injured ones are currently receiving treatment and will be recovered in no time. And no worries, sir. If he ever shows his face around here again, I promise to finish the job for you." Starinus replied with a smirk.

"I appreciate your loyalty. It seems you have already improved as my newly appointed commander." Vi-Zera said.

"Thank you. Just one question, though: When will the speech be ready?" Starinus asked.

"It will be ready shortly. Once it is ready and Dr. Eggman gives the word, we shall take the first step towards our secret plan." Vi-Zera answered.

"Excellent." Starinus smirked.

"I shall leave the rest to you. I will notify the other commanders once it is ready." Vi-Zera stated, as his image disappeared off-screen.

Starinus turned the other away as something came to her mind. "Most of my life has been a wreck. I have been beaten, tortured, used, even almost killed once. I'm not going to have any more bad moments in my life. No, I'm going to make sure everyone pays for what they've done to me. With the Space Pirates and robots in control, everyone will be sorry. The only thing is that they won't be forgiven. Instead, they will all be enslaved, punished, and beaten to death as Organization Fusion: The New World turns this sad world into what it will soon become."

* * *

**The old saying goes: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Is Kyla Vonstar truly dead? Or is she still alive by what Zed says? And with the first Chaos Emerald in their grasp, will the Lord Zedd and the others be able to locate the six remaining Chaos Emeralds? Find out on the next Dawn, Darkness, and War!**

**Please, read and review.**


	11. Friends and Rivals reunite

**DAWN, DARKNESS, AND WAR**

Metroid © Nintendo

Chapter Ten: Friends and Rivals reunite

**- Meteor Tech -**

The scene shifts towards Meteor Tech. The Space Pirates had taken Future City under control some time back and driven most of the people out of the city. It was an ambush that nobody saw coming.

In a narrow corridor, we see the Chaotix making their way through the dark corridor. They had managed to find a secret entrance that lead them to Meteor Tech.

"We finally managed to get here." Vector said, breathing with a sigh of relief. "I didn't think getting here would take us this long."

"Well, it was your idea to walk." Espio pointed out.

"Yeah, you had to stop by at that fast food restaurant on the way here!" Charmy added.

"I can't help myself, OK? All I wanted was that special jumbo cheeseburger. It tasted so good!" Vector said, remembering the delicious taste of the burger he had eaten earlier.

"Note to self: Never order a jumbo cheeseburger unless we're all really hungry." Espio noted.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya." Vector exagerated.

The three detectives soon spotted a nearby computer room in which it was empty. The Chaotix decided to take advantage of this and headed inside and made their way to a nearby computer as Espio began typing.

"So what are we looking for again?" Charmy asked.

"We need to find information on what the Space Pirates are doing here and find any information that we can come across." Espio replied.

"Right." Vector nodded. "Espio will hack into their communications network and download the Space Pirate data onto this disc." The green crocodile pulled out a disc from an unknown pocket of his and showed it to Charmy.

"That's great!" Charmy smiled before changing his expression and scratching his head. "But are you sure this will work? What if something goes wrong?"

"C'mon Charmy! You gotta have a little faith." Vector said, as he put the disc inside the computer's hardware. "Are you there yet, Espio?"

"Almost. I'm just about crack the systems code." Espio replied, as he typed as fast as he could. Keeping his composure as he continued his work. The computer screen flashed green. "Got it!"

"All right, we're in!" Charmy yelled excitedly.

"Keep quiet, Charmy!" Vector yelled out, before turning to Espio. "Espio, download the data to the disc I just put in."

"Way ahead of you." Espio replied, as he pressed enter. That began the downloading of the process.

* * *

Dozrin was at the control room, as he and the other Space Pirate Commanders were standing by for the announcement that Vi-Zera was going to address shortly, and make sure that it would be heard clear to people all around the world.

He then heard a beeping sound from one of the monitors. Checking it, Dozrin pressed a button, revealing Dr. Eggman on the screen.

"Dr. Eggman, I am pleased to hear from you, sir." Dozrin said, giving a kneel to in the process as to show respect for the mechanical genius.

"I see that everything is good on your end. How are my robots coming along?" Dr. Eggman questioned.

"Vi-Zera contacted me about that subject. The robots are coming along at a nice pace and will be ready very shortly." Dozrin answered.

"Excellent." Eggman grinned. "I trust that you'll let me in once the robots are finished?"

"Yes sir. I swear to you that they live up to your expectations." Dozrin said.

"That's what I want to hear." Eggman replied satisfyingly.

The alarm suddenly sounded. Dozrin jumped to his feet when he heard it. Dr. Eggman must've heard it as well."

"What's going on? Why is the alarm going off?" Eggman asked, demanding an answer.

Dozrin checked the security camera's to find what was causing this trouble. He soon spotted it. "Someone's in the computer data lab!"

"Then send in reinforcements and stop them!" Eggman shouted.

"Yes sir. Once we rid of the intruders, I'll contact you." Dozrin replied. He then cut communications with Dr. Eggman and turned away from the monitor. "I'll make sure that these intruders won't leave here alive."

* * *

Team Chaotix was already on the run when the alarm went off. Espio has the disc of data saved in his pocket after retrieving it from one of the computers.

"Boy, I guess it was only a matter of time, right?" Charmy asked excitedly.

"What are you talking about, Charmy?" Vector questioned. "We haven't even been caught yet!"

"And if you two keep talking like that, it will be only a matter of time before we get caught!" Espio noted.

Speaking of which, three Space Pirate soldiers came down from the ceiling, forcing our heroes to stop dead end in their tracks.

"Oh great, more of these guys!" Charmy said annoyingly. "Don't they have anything better to do?"

"Espio, we need to get out of here, quickly!" Vector told him. "Do you think maybe you can finish these guys in a record amount of time?"

"All right. But don't expect miracles from me all of the time." Espio noted, as he quickly went to each towards Space Pirate. Each one of the Space Pirates with a strip of Japanese paper strip. Before the Space Pirate Troopers could make a move, Espio slapped each one of the strips on their faces, blinding them. After Espio was finished, he quickly went to a clearing away from the Space Pirate troopers and snapped his fingers, exploding and making a large cloud of smoke.

At that moment, Espio appeared from within the shadows of the smoke. "Come on, let's get moving!"

Vector and Charmy wasted no time as the charged right past Espio, almost taking the chameleon by surprise before he decided to catch up with them.

* * *

Soon, the Chaotix made it to a large area of Meteor Tech. They looked around to see where the next door is that would lead to the exit. Vector noticed a large door up ahead that had the most light.

"That must be the door! Let's hurry and get out of here!" Vector shouted.

"Righto!" Charmy saluted.

_CRASH!_

A large crash came from the side of the room. The Chaotix were taken by surprise by this as they looked in the direction where the crash came from.

"What was that?" Espio asked.

"Could it be more Space Pirates?" Charmy wondered.

Vector got a close look from his point of view. His eyes then widened. "Uh...boys? We got trouble!"

Trouble was right. A large group of Space Pirates stood together, including the leader, Dozrin. He was holding his hammer with a grin plastered on his face.

"So you're the intruders that snuck in here." Dozrin said, pointing out the obvious.

"That's right!" Charmy answered.

"CHARMY!" Vector said, slapping his head in annoyance. "Yeah, and we plan getting out of here, too!"

"I wouldn't plan on that." Dozrin replied. "What you see here are my Space Pirate Troopers ready to attack once I give the word. But first, we have business to take care of. You were in the computer data lab and I want to know what you were doing in there."

"We were stealing-" Charmy blurted out before Vector shut his trap up just in time.

"Quiet down, Charmy!" Vector told him.

Those words from Charmy caught Dozrin's attention. "Stealing? What were you stealing?"

As Espio was trying to keep Charmy quiet, Vector spoke towards the Space Pirate General. "What we came here for is none of your business. We're doing to defeat you and your Space Pirate army and get out of here!"

Espio and Charmy seemed a little surprised on what Vector had said.

"Uh Vector, not to burst your bubble, but there's like an entire army of Space Pirates out there! I don't think we stand a chance against thse numbers." Charmy pointed out.

"Did that stop us when we battled Eggman and his robots before?" Vector asked. "No! Once we start a job, we finish the job! That's our policy."

The two other members remembered this motto and they both agreed with Vector. Charmy grinned excitedly. "Yeah! Let's kick some Space Pirate butt!"

Dozrin couldn't tell whether to be amused or assume they were being foolish. "Do you think you can actually take me and my Space Pirate army with just the three of you? You would need extra fire-power to take us on." He gripped his hammer. "All soliders-"

A missile flew out from above Team Chaotix and skyrocketed straight towards Dozrin without warning. Before the Space Pirate General had time to react, the missile directly hit his core, blowing up near his face.

"What the heck just happened?" Charmy wondered. He was confused on where that missile came from.

Espio was able to get a clear look after the smoke had died down. "Whatever it was, it seems to have damaged that Space Pirate General."

Dozrin was down on one knee while holding one hand on his damaged core. "W-What happened? Where did that missile come from?"

"Why don't you take an obvious guess?" A voice replied.

The Chaotix heard the voice from behind them as they turned around, only to be shocked and surprised as to who's voice it was.

The person's voice turned out to be from a tall humanoid in a familiar looking orange Power Suit. Charmy smiled happily to see who it was.

"Samus! It's you!" Charmy said excitedly.

Samus Aran approached the Chaotix. "Hello boys. I came here as soon as I could."

"Greetings, Samus. It is good to see you again, but how did you know to come here?" Espio questioned.

"I think we can save the questions until later." Samus replied as she fixed her Arm Cannon onto Dozrin.

The Space Pirate General saw her. The famous Bounty Hunter was here. He chuckled at her arrival as he got back to his feet. "Samus Aran. Who knew that you would show up here at all places?"

"Would you rather prefer if I didn't show up here at all?" Samus asked.

"No. In fact, we were expecting you to arrive here."

Samus stayed cautious and focused at the same time her eyes darted upwards towards the ceiling. "Good. Because we're not going to be staying here for very long."

Before Dozrin could have a chance to respond, Samus shot five missiles at once towards the ceiling, blasting a large portion that made a large portion of the ceiling come falling down towards Dozrin. The Space Pirate General was caught off guard by this as the piece of the ceiling crashed on top of him. The Space Pirate Troopers managed to jump out of the way in time before it buried Dozrin.

The Chaotix seemed impressed by this. Most notabaly Vector. "Very good job, Samus!"

Samus lowered her Arm Cannon and turned around. "Let's get moving while they're distracted. That won't hold Dozrin down for long."

"Oh, right! Let's get out of here!" Vector shouted as Samus led the way with the other Chaotix members following her.

The Space Pirates were about to go after them.

"Stop!" This caught the Space Pirate attention. "Let them go and help get this off of me."

The Space Pirates went over to the buried Dozrin and helped him get the large portion of the broken ceiling off of him. Dozrin had an angry look on his face. "I promise you, Samus, that you and your friends haven't seen the last of me. I garuntee it."

* * *

**- Wave Ocean -**

The scene shifts towards Wave Ocean. It was a beautiful day as the sun started to set with the sky turning orange. Over near the shore we could see Team Berserker of Armand, Basil, and Axel were standing at the shore of the beach together. It looks as though as if they were waiting for someone or something to show up.

"Do you think they'll show up?" Axel asked. "Let alone even help us?"

"Well, my gut says no. But then again, my guy doesn't always tell me things straight." Basil shrugged.

"I'm sure they'll be here. With all that's been happened today, I'm sure they will have noticed it as well." Armand remarked.

"How will we know when they get here?" Basil wondered.

A minute later, a red airship suddenly flew over them and stopped overhead above the sand beore coming to a halt in mid-air. Soon, three familiar looking anthro birds came riding down from the airship on their Extreme Gear boards and came across with Team Berserker.

"Well, if it ain't you guys again. Thought you'd never show up." Basil greeted unsually.

"We're you expecting us not to show up?" Jet questioned witha raised eyebrow. Basil replied with no response.

"So what did you want to speak with us about?" Wave asked.

"Actually, we're expecting other people to be here." Axel told them.

"Which would happen to be us!" A cocky male voice called out.

The two groups turned to see that the voice came from three other people.

Jet frowned. "Really? You had to call them out here?"

The group that Jet was mentioning was Team Rockers that consisted of Yamkir, Xion, and Robin. Yamkir was wearing a tan fur-jacket, blue shiny boots, and his spiked wrists. Xion was wearing a light blue tank-top, black jeans, and black/white sneakers. And Robin was still wearing his black jacket and black sunglasses.

"But of course, green bird! As you know, we are the greatest Extreme Gear team of all time!" They turned their heads dramatically, having a moment to themselves as if they were in the spotlight.

Storm cracked his knuckles. "So did we come here to race or what?"

"I called you all here for an important reason." Armand announced. "As you may have noticed, earlier today, the monsters known as Space Pirates began invading our planet. They are lead by the Ridley and Dr. Eggman. Not only this, but I've also received disturbing news."

"Really? And what might that be?" Wave asked.

"Mephiles is still alive." Armand replied. "And he's kidnapped Louise Harmon's daughter."

There was a long silence. Xion was rather curious.

"So what happened?" Xion asked.

"A pair of monsters known as Morbids abducted her under Mephiles rule." Axel explained. "From what we've heard, Marisa and Samson were the only ones fighting them off. The Morbids succeeded and they kidnapped Marisa before escaping."

"I see..." Wave rubbed her chin. "Did Mephiles explain why he needed Marisa?"

"No. We weren't really there, so we don't know that part." Basil replied.

"But what we do know Marisa was kidnapped by Mephiles. That much we know for certain." Armand stated.

"So what do ya want us ta do, laddie?" Robin asked.

"This is one of the reasons why I called you all here." Armand continued. "We should form a search party together and find Marisa."

"That sounds fine and all, but I gotta a couple of questions about this." Yamkir interjected. "First of all, where are we suppose to look in order to find her? You know that this is a pretty big planet. And secondly, suppose that we do find here. What do we get out of all this?"

"That's why we've come up with a solution. Basil?" Armand turned to the fox.

"Got it." Basil grinned as he handed communicators to Team Rockers and the Babylon Rogues.

"What are these for?" Storm asked, confused.

"These are communicators, all hand made by us." Basil answered. "In case anyone of us finds a lead or even Marisa herself, we can call each other with these, no matter how far apart we are. And it works as a walkie talkie, too, so we can talk to each other!"

"Not a half bad idea, I have to admit." Xion smiled a bit at the new communicator. In an odd fashion, she clipped the communicator to her belt. "I think this looks good on me, don't you admit, dudes?"

Robin had flashy eyes coming from his shade. "That looks good on ya, Xion. Fits you well!"

"Yeah, babe." Yamkir shrugged. "But what about the other question? What do we get out of all this?"

"What do you want?" Armand asked. "To prove that your the best?"

"What? You all know that the three of us are the best Extreme Gear in the world!" Yamkir boasted the tiger.

"Really?" Jet raised an eyebrow. "Because from where I stand, you're third-rate."

"What did you say, bird boy? I think my ears kinda clogged itself up." Yamkir questioned as if he was serious.

"I said you're third-rate. Not just you, but your team as well." Jet grinned.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Xion called out. "You better watch what you say, because if mess with us, you're gonna get rocked!"

"Why don't you say that to my face, punk?" Storm replied back.

"STOP ARGUING!" Basil shouted. "Can't you see that a big crisis is going on? How can we concentrate on the current situation if you guys are going to boast about who's the better team?" The fox started to pant a bit. "Man, that was a bit rough."

Axel himself had to agree. "What do you suggest, Armand?"

"After this is all over, and everything is settled, why don't we have a three team race? That way, we can settle the differences once and for all."

The Babylon Rogues and Team Rockers seemed to listen carefully and both nodded silently.

"All right, it's a deal!" Jet nodded.

"And that goes double for us!" Yamkir added. Xion and Robin nodded in agreement.

"OK then. Now then, I suggest we split up into different directions. The communicators will keep track of where we are, no matter how far about we are. If and os us manage to find any leads or whereabouts concerning Marisa's kidnapping, either we will contact you or you contact us and give us the update. Is everyone clear?"

Jet tossed the communicator to Wave, to which the purple swallow caught.

"We'll search high above the sky in our airship. We can cover more ground that way." Wave said.

"Good idea." Axel nodded. "And you guys?" Asking Team Rockers.

"I don't know. I think we'll search the best spots like Twinkle Park and see if we can find her there." Yamkir replied.

"Are you sure? Cause I doubt Mephiles would take Marisa there." Basil doubted.

"You never know until you look." Yamkir retorted with a finger wave. Basil just shrugged it off.

"One more thing. Stay away from places in where the Space Pirates are at. We can''t find them with the current numbers we have, so it's best to avoid them as possible." Armand warned them.

"Got ya, lad!" Robin agreed. "We'll do our best."

"Can we go now?" Jet asked, yawning a bit. "I'm honestly getting bored just standing here."

"Very well. In that case, we'll start searching in the forest area." Armand said. "Now let's move!"

In a short amount of time, the three teams took off in their own directions. Their mission was to find Marisa Harmon.

* * *

**More friends and rivals meet up as they each have their own objectives. What kind of information did the Chaotix get in their hands? With Samus reuniting with the Chaotix, will they be able to stand up to the Space Pirate invasion? And will the Extreme Gear teams be able to locate Marisa? Find out on the next Dawn, Darkness, and War!**

**Please, read and review.**

**NOTE: Wow...it's been over a year since I updated this story. And after a long period of Writer's Block, I've finally got my writing spirit back. Rest assured, I'm back. And I'm going to go all the way with this story.**


	12. Unknown Future

**DAWN, DARKNESS, AND WAR**

Strike and Aqua © The Brawler

Chapter Eleven: Unknown Future

**- Mystic Ruins -**

The scene shifts towards the forest area of the Mystic Ruins. Nightfall had already risen over the sky with the stars shining brightly. The only sounds were the crickets chirping and the stream of the river flowing throughout the forest. Overall, it seemed like a peaceful night, despite what happened today.

In the forest, we could see Strike, Aqua, and Zed Goodwin in the forest right now. Strike and Aqua were carrying their boards, seeing as how they were out of air, they had to walk along the forest after landing here. Zed was also with them, seeing as how he escaped with them after abandoning G.U.N. Headquarters that was held in control of the Space Pirates.

"Are you sure we're at the Mystic Ruins?" Aqua asked, looking around the forest.

"I think so. This forest is a little hard to tell, though. It almost feels like a giant maze." Strike said.

"Compared to the alien infested headquarters, a place like this almost feels like heaven." Zed was obviously referring to the G.U.N. Headquarters filled with Space Pirates.

Strike looked at Zed. "Why are you with us, anyway? Weren't you with the Space Pirates?"

"I had my own personal agenda that doesn't concern you." Zed replied, remaining ominous.

Strike was rather curious to hear about this 'agenda' that Zed was talking about. "What kind of agenda are you talking about?"

Zed pretended not to hear the question. "We should probably get out of this forest, don't you think?"

As much as she didn't like Zed, Aqua had to agree with him. "He's right. It's getting really late, too. Maybe there's a place here that we can rest for the night? I'm getting tired."

Strike stopped to face Aqua. "Are you sure you can hold on a little longer? I'm sure we can make it out of this forest soon."

Aqua shook her head. "No, Strike. I really want to stop and get some sleep. Besides, today was a long day. Especially on all that's happened."

The yellow hedgehog could understand what Aqua was talking about. A lot happened today, what with all the Space Pirates invasions and all. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Did you manage to find Kyla?"

Aqua lowered her eyes in sadness. "Strike...about Kyla..."

"Let me guess: Couldn't find her, could you?" Strike thought.

"Well, in a way, yes..." Aqua said rather slowly.

"Don't worry about it." Strike put a hand on her shoulder and smiled. "I'm sure she's still safe. We'll find her."

Aqua half-smiled, but it was a rather sad one. Because she knew what really happened to Kyla Vonstar.

"Hey!" Zed called out from a small distance ahead. "If you two are done having a romantic moment with each other, come over here. I found something."

Strike was curious as he and Aqua went towards the human male. Zed pointed out what he was seeing.

"Take a look."

Strike and Aqua saw that there was a small wooden little-outside shelter that was surrounded by the small river that was flowing by the place. It looked like no one was home. The group inspected it closer to see what it was like. Well, it definitely didn't look like a house. It looked more like an outside cabin with a leaf-covered roof.

"Maybe we can use this to sleep here for the night." Aqua suggested.

"Are you sure? Someone might be living here." Strike thought.

"Well I see no one here. And if there's no one here, that means we can use it as our own for the night." Zed said, making sure that the place was spotless.

"It doesn't seem right, though..." Strike said, rubbing his head in confusion. He wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do if someone was living here.

"I don't think it will be any harm. Besides, it's better than lying on the ground, right?" Aqua asked Strike with a smile.

Strike thought about it some more before smiling back at his friend. "Yeah, I guess your right."

"Let's get this set up and get some sleep." Zed said.

Aqua noticed a green frog suddenly came bouncing towards them. "Hey, look! A frog."

The two hedgehogs watched as the frog got a look at both of them while bouncing up and down. The blue hedgehow smiled at the creature.

"Hey there! Where did you come from?" Aqua asked the frog while sweet-talking.

"Ribbit-ribbit!" The frog croaked.

"Frooooooooooooooooogy!" A voice called out.

Strike looked over and his eyes widened when he saw something approaching them. "What is THAT?"

Coming towards the duo was a large creature. More specifically, it was a fat purple cat with white fur as it's stomach, a brown belt around it's waist, brown sandals, tan gloves, and dark blue stripes around his arms and ears. He skidded to a halt when he was near the frog.

"I'm glad I caught up with you, Froggy." The large-rounded cat breathed deeply, speaking with a voice that lacked any intelligence. That's when he noticed the two hedgehogs and human. "Hey Froggy, we have guests!" The cat cheered.

Zed seemed rather annoyed by this bumbling cat. "What is this nonsense?"

"Um, I'm sorry, but we're not exactly guests." Aqua corrected him nervously.

"Hmm...?" The cat tilted his head. "Nope, your guests all right!"

It sounded like this wasn't going to go anywhere. "Strike, help me." Aqua whispered.

"So, who are you, exactly?" Strike wondered.

"Me? My name is Big." The cat smiled proudly as he introduced the frog. "And this here is my little buddy, Froggy. Say hello, Froggy."

"Ribbit-ribbit!" Froggy croaked while bouncing up and down.

"It's nice to meet you, Big." Aqua bowed. "My name is Aqua Bubbles."

Strike seemed to find Big odd at first, but he seemed like a nice fellow. "Hello. My name is Strike."

Zed didn't seem interested in introducing himself at all, but since Strike was glaring at him from behind, he decided just to get it over with. "Zed Goodwin." He quickly said out loud.

"It's super-duper nice to meet you all!" Big said happily.

Shortly after their greeting, Aqua quickly changed the subject. "So, this is your home, big?"

"Uh-huh." Big nodded. "So where are you guys come from?"

"Me and Aqua are from Soleanna." Strike responded. Zed didn't say anything.

"Well, that was our home until..." Aqua paused. She wasn't really sure if she wanted to let Big in on what was going, seeing as how Soleanna was recently a victim of a takeover from the Space Pirates.

"I think it's been a long day already." Strike quickly interuppted. "We should probably get some sleep before we lose any of it tommorow." He wanted to keep the invasion problem a secret.

"Well...OK." Aqua slowly finished. "Big, do you think we can sleep here at your place tonight?"

"Sure! Me and Froggy were just coming back from fishing. We plan on going again early in the morning. Would you like to come and join us?"

"We appreciate the offer, but I'm afraid we'll have to decline. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow." Strike replied.

"Really? Aww...OK then." Big seemed pretty down to hear the response.

"Don't worry, Big. I'm sure you and Froggy will do great tomorrow on your fishing." Aqua said, trying to cheer the large cat up.

"Thank you!" Big smiled happily. "That makes me super-duper happy!"

"This is getting ridiculous." Zed said to himself, as he laid down on the wooden ground and turned on his side. "I'm going to sleep. See you in the morning."

Big was confused. "What's up with him? He seems to be in a baaaaad mood."

"Don't worry about him. He's always like that." Strike mentioned.

"Why?"

From the look on Aqua's face, she didn't want Strike to tell him about the situation that happened some time ago at the World Tennis Tournament. Strike noticed her look and decided not to tell Big. At least, not right now.

"I think we should get some sleep. It's been a long night." Strike said, as he streched his arms out and yawned.

"Yeah. I agree." Aqua nodded rather quickly, as she laid down on an empty space on the wooden floor and closed her eyes. "Good night."

Strike also laid down close to Aqua while Big laid on his back with Froggy resting on top of Big's belly. As a little bit of time passed, Strike was still awake, just staring at the wooden ceiling. His mind was still on the events on all that's happened today.

"Strike?"

Strike turned his head to see Aqua turning over towards the yellow hedgehog. "Are you still awake?"

"Yeah. Can't sleep, can you?" Strike asked.

"I could say the same to you." Aqua whispered back with a small giggle. She then turned her smile back to seriousness. "But in all seriousness, yeah, I can't sleep either."

"You're still thinking about today, aren't you?"

Aqua nodded. "Mm-hm. I still can't get it out of my mind."

"I hear you. These invasions have been really crazy, what with these Space Pirate aliens taking over certain cities, including Soleanna." Just bringing up Soleanna made the yellow hedgehog pause silently.

"Well, if you put it that way, then I agree with you." Aqua said.

"Something else on your mind?" Strike wondered.

"...Well, it's about Kyla." Aqua was still thinking about her.

"You brought her up earlier, too. I guess you really are close friends with her." Strike chuckled a little.

"Well, of course!" Aqua replied, her face turning sad again. "Strike, I want to save Kyla. I really do. But I'm afraid I might be too late in doing that..."

"What? Of course not!" Strike interuppted her. "Listen, if you really believe that you want to save Kyla, don't think about what you think might happen to her. Think about that WE will find Kyla and save her." Aqua knew that she wouldn't be alone in trying to rescue Kyla.

Aqua still hadn't told him what really happened to Kyla, but...maybe not telling him the truth about her would be the best idea. "OK. We'll rescue her together."

"Good." Strike smiled. "Now let's get some sleep. We got a long day ahead of us." He then turned on his side and went to sleep.

The light-blue hedgehog turned on her side with a sad frown. "Kyla...I know you're still alive. I don't care what that look-alike of your says. I know you can be saved. And I'm going to make sure of it."

* * *

**- Rio Salaz -**

At the Saloon, everyone was asleep with a couple of new of people moving in after being forced out of their own home. Alyson Sweet and Spade the Pterodactyl both retreated to Rio Salaz with the help of some old and new heroes. However, Yublein the Tyrannosaurus stayed behind in order to bide some time for the others and fight off the Space Pirates. His fate, at the moment, is unknown.

Louise Harmon was sleeping in her room. However, she seemed to be tossing and turning a lot. All the while saying Marisa's name over and over again.

* * *

_Louise was standing at the entrance of Rio Salaz. There was a very dark cloud above the town and everything else beyond that is nothing but a darkness void._

_She was staring with horror on her face at what she was seeing. Heroes involved in this conflict were all dead thanks to the bodies that were all over the place. The town itself was feeling more of a haunted nightmare than a ghost town. There was no sound made. Everything was complete silence. Which is unnatural beyound belief._

_"What happened here? Why is everybody dead?" Louise wasn't sure what was going on at all. She was panicking. "Marisa! MARISA! Where are you?" She started running through the town. "Answer me! Where are you?"_

_She then noticed the Saloon. Maybe Marisa is in there, she thought. She quickly ran towards the Saloon and pushed the side-winder doors out of the way and rushed inside. She looked around the main room and saw no one was there, so the human ran upstairs, hoping that she was in one of the rooms._

_The sage opened each room, however, all of the rooms she opened were empty. Louise was growing more terrified with each second. Her daughter meant everything to her, and if the other heroes were dead outside, then Marisa..._

_"No...! Please tell me this isn't happening! Marisa...where are you?" Louise started to break down on her knees and tears began to form on her eyes. "Marisa...please tell me you're still alive...just give me a sign. Anything. I just want you alive and safe in my arms..."_

_An evil laughed echoed across from the front of her. And laugh was that dark and almost sent a shiver down Louise's spine. The sage looked forward and her eyes widened in horror. Her eyes were staring right into the crystallized form of Mephiles the Dark._

_"Oh, how fun is this. Seeing you cry in front of me is just so thrilling to see." Mephiles taunted._

_"Y-You...you kidnapped my daughter! What have you done with here? You killed her, didn't you? Give her back, you evil monster!" Louise screamed at him._

_"Yes...scream. Get angry. It only makes my power stronger." Mephiles retorted._

_Upon hearing this, Louise instantly gained back some of her sanity and took a deep breath inside. "What have you done to my daughter? What do you want with her?"_

_"In the future, Marisa will destroy the world with her own magic." Mephiles could see the concerned eyes of __Louise Harmon. "Her power will become so strong, that it will exceed and surpass her own limit. Don't tell me you didn't know about this...?"_

_Louise didn't want to believe what he was saying. But now that she thought about it, Marisa might actually have the power to see visions in the future. Only certain elements that she could see by herself. Could that be a possibility in what's to come in the future?_

_"With that said, there is only one way for it to be stopped." He snapped his fingers once, and a dark portal appeared from underneath the floor. From it, appeared Marisa Harmon__ as the dark portal soon disappeared and the young girl was on her own two feet._

_The young red-head rubbed her head and opened her eyes. "What happened? Where am I?" She then turned to see her mother. "MOM! Mom, it's you!"_

_Louise's tears started to disappear as she smiled widely. "Marisa!" She felt so relieved to see her daughter safe and alive!"_

_Marisa began to run over towards her Mom with her arms spread out and ready to give a big huge hug, with Louise spreading her arms out to catch Marisa in a big hug as well._

_A bright purple light suddenly blasted through Marisa's stomach without warning. This caught Louise totally off guard. Coming from the light was the source of it all. Mephiles had impaled Marisa through the stomach, making young mage cough out blood._

_Louise's eyes widened back in horror. "MARISA! NOO!"_

_The light had disappeared from Marisa's stomach as she slowly fell to her knees. Her eyes were barely opened as she looked at her Mom with a blurry image and with smile that made her drip blood from her lips._

_"Mom...I'm sorry that I caused all this...forgive me..." Marisa whispered her last words before dropping face-first towards the ground. Louise saw no further signs of movement from her now dead daughter._

_"MARISA! MARISA!" Louise screamed over and over. "PLEASE WAKE UP! MARISA!"_

* * *

Louise's eyes shot straight open when she quickly sat up from her bed. Her heart was punding almost furiously after waking up from that terrible nightmare. She looked outside her window after seeing a flash. Apparently it was lightning and thunder, as rain began to pour down late in the night.

Louise took a few moments to calm down before sighing. "My goodness...I can't believe what I just experienced." That whole thing with Mephiles was really creepy and scary. Thankfully, it was all just a dream and Marisa was still alive.

At least, that's what she wanted to believe.

"Marisa...please be safe." Louise whispered. "I promise I'll rescue you. Just hold on a little longer..."

* * *

**Experience a nightmare like that is a terrible thing for Louise to go through. But is this something that could very well happen to Marisa for real? What does Mephiles want with the young mage? And can Strike and Aqua get along with Zed Goodwin to make it back with the others? Find out on the next Dawn, Darkness, and War!**

**Please, read and review.**

**NOTE: I would also like for you to go check out a friend of mine known as Zero the Leech. He has some really good stories that I would recommend giving a look. He is underrated and is looking for more readers.**


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